Chapter 24 Disney Past

'Mickey' had flung Sakura over to the door of the room as he kicked the couch towards the black hole. He then knocked other pieces of furniture towards it like his clock, the lamp and a Christmas Tree oddly enough.

The furniture all fell into the hole at once, plugging it up and causing everyone to fall to the ground once the force of the black hole was no longer pulling them.

Mickey ran up to Sora, shook his hand, waved and ran off.

"What just happened?" Kaze asked.

"I have no idea." Corrin admitted.

"Sakura!" Takumi gasped as he ran towards his sister. "Are you okay?" He asked frantically

"I-I'm fine Takumi." Sakura assured which calmed him down.

"Was that really the king?" Sora asked.

"It had to be! Let's go after him!" Donald declared as the group ran out of the door that 'Mickey' ran out.

The group found themselves suddenly out in a field with Heartless appearing before them. Some of them looked like a car that had teeth in the front, and eyes where the window normally is. The Heartless emblem was a hood ornament and it had an antenna on the top.

Other Heartless were small creatures with a big head and a pilot's helmet on a plane that had guns on the wings and the Heartless Emblem on the side.

The last ones were shaped like a giant hammer with the emblem right at the end of the hammer and their face above it. They also had scrawny arms and legs sticking out of the hammer body.

"What the heck?" Corrin muttered to himself as the group summoned their weapons.

"These are more of those Heartless, right?" Takumi asked.

"Yeah. Heartless take on many different shapes, but they are all just as dangerous." Sora said.

"So, see a Heartless and still soot it? I can do that." Takumi said rising his bow. Regardless of how ridiculous these Heartless looked, this fight was probably the most normal thing Takumi saw since he was taken by Maleficent.

Then the fight started.

The planes started to open fire on the group that Sora and Corrin started blocking with their swords. One of the Areoplanes tried to ram into Sora, but he dodge-rolled out of the way and unleashed a Thunder spell destroying the Heartless. Corrin shot a blizzard spell at the other Aeroplane Heartless destroying it.

Takumi fired an arrow at one of the Hammer Frame Heartless injuring it, but it still stood. The Hammer Frame then jumped into the air and slammed on the ground in front of Takumi creating a shockwave that sent him flying. Takumi groaned as he landed on the ground, but he managed to roll out of the way before the Hammer Frame could finish hm off by smashing him with its hammer body.

Takumi gripped his bow and fired a shot straight at the Hammer Frame causing it to stumble over and fall down. Takumi unleashed another shot at the Heartless finishing it off.

Efore he could respond however, the other Hammer Frame slammed into him sening him flying. The Hammer Frame then jumped into the air to finish him off, by was intercepted by Sora who slashed it with his Keyblade destroying it.

Sora then went up to Takumi and offered his hand.

"You okay?" Sora asked.

Takumi said nothing as he stood up on his own…slowly.

"I didn't ask for your help." He muttered.

"Sorry." Sora said as he handed Takumi a potion.

"What is that?" Takumi asked.

"A potion. It will heal your injuries." Sora said with a smile.

"I'm fine. I don't need…urk." Takumi flinched from his injuries. He just takes the Potion, mutters a thanks and drinks it up.

Goofy and Kaze were facing a pair of Hot Rod Heartless that charged right at them. Kaze was able to dodge them, but Goofy was sent flying all around.

'I'm amazed how many hits he could take.' Kaze thought as he saw Goofy getting juggled by the Heartless.

Kaze took out his Flame Shuriken and tossed it at one of the Hot rods. The fire from the weapon caused the top of the car to catch on fire and the Heartless started to freak out as it drove in circles trying to get the fire out.

Donald unleashed a Thunder spell on the Heartless destroying it.

"These things are pretty weak to magic. Try it Sakura." Donald said as Sakura nodded.

The other Hot Rod charged at Sakura.

"A-Aero!" She shouted as she pointed her wand at the Heartless. A burst of wind erupted from underneath it sending the Hot Ride flying.

"N-Now Thunder!" Sakura called out as a rather weak bolt of lightning struck the Heartless, but was still alive.

"Thunder!" Donald called out blasting the Heartless with a stronger thunder spell, destroying it.

"Sakura, you can't just rely on aero for offense." Donald scolded.

"I-I'm trying but it seems like it's the only spell outside of healing that I can do. I'm sorry!" Sakura said bowing.

"Well, maybe when we get back to the ship, you can look in that book Aerith gave you for other white magic spells. Especially if what Goofy said about you being better at White magic was true." Corrin offered as the others regrouped.

"Y-Yeah. Maybe I should." Sakura said.

"Hey Sakura. How did you do that wind thing?" Takumi asked.

"It's a spell I leaned called Aero." Sakura said.

"Can you show me it?" Takumi asked.

"Uh, sure." Sakura said a bit surprised. Takumi was never interested in magic back home. Why now? Still, it would be nice for her to be the one to show her older siblings something for once, so she won't complain.

"Say, what's that?" Corrin asked pointing to what looks like a window covered in a curtain. Donald walked up and pulled the rope connected to the curtain opening it up. But what they saw wasn't a window, it was Maleficent and Pete standing in front of a white door like Merlin used to send them here.

"It's like a TV." Donald commented.

"What's a TV?" Takumi asked.

"Never mind that, look! That must be the other door Merlin was talking about." Corrin pointed.

"So, what are ya going to do?" Pete asked rather nervously. "Cause I'd rather leave this place alone. It's…sort of special to me."

"I see. You've been indulging in memories of your former glory." Maleficent sighed. "Perhaps if you would stop dwelling on the past, you could actually make something useful of yourself in the present."

Pete growled at that.

"But rest assured. I have no intention of trampling on your precious memories." Maleficent assured.

"You don't?" Pete asked surprised.

"No. I have no need to. But with this portal to the past, we can go back to before they began construction on that wretched castle." Maleficent said

"You mean Disney Castle?" Pete asked and Maleficent nodded.

"That horrid Cornerstone of Light is the reason why I can't enter Disney Castle but as you can see through this door, it stands unguarded. Now take these." Maleficent said handing Pete a small bag.

Pete opens the bag and pulls out one of the seeds inside of it.

"Are these seeds? How are they going to help?" Pete asked.

"I want you to plant those seeds around the Cornerstone of Light. As time goes on, those seeds will sprout and take root beneath the future foundation of the castle. And by around this time, they will sprout into the thorns that will drain the cornerstone of all of its power. Once that happens, Disney castle is as good as mine." Maleficent explained. "This is your last chance. I trust you won't screw up such an easy task?"

"If it's so easy, then why don't you do it?!" Pete yelled as he tossed the seeds to the ground though Maleficent remained unfazed. Rather she simply raised her wand.

The scene ends with flashes of light and Pete screaming as the heroes look on awkwardly. Once it was done, the curtains folded and the window just up and vanished.

"A door to the past…Wait we're in the past?" Sora asked.

"I thought this place felt familiar." Goofy said.

"So that means that the Pete we beat up was actually the Pete of this timeline." Corrin guessed.

"Oh yeah! I remember hearing that he was once a Steamboat captain." Donald said.

"So that King Mickey we saw was the King Mickey of this timeline as well." Kaze said.

"I wonder if he led us here so that we could see this." Goofy pondered.

"Maybe but now that we know what's going on, we should go find those seeds. If we remove them, then the thorns will disappear and the Cornerstone will be safe." Corrin said.

"Sounds like a plan. If it means getting out of this crazy place." Takumi said.

"Let's head back to the Cornerstone of Light." Sora said.

"Hey you guys!" Past Pete called out. "Haven't you found my boat yet?"

"We're working on it!" Sora called out as the group bolted back to the hill where the Cornerstone was.

"What a bunch of werdos." Past Pete muttered as he caught a glance of Past Mickey trying to sneak behind him. "And as for you! What they heck were you doing? You were supposed to be guarding my boat!" Past Pete yelled as he pounded Past Mickey on the head.

The group headed right back to the hill where the Cornerstone resided but to their shock, it was gone.

"The Cornerstone!" Goofy gasped.

"Pete must have taken it!" Donald growled.

"B-But where did he take it?" Sakura asked.

"The river! Don't forget he stole that Steamboat! It would be the perfect means of a getaway." Corrin gasped.

"Then we're wasting time! We have to hurry!" Sora declared as the group ran off towards the harbor.

Pete had just finished loading the Cornerstone of Light in a wooden crate that was tied to the back of his boat.

"I'm such a genus. All I have to do is get this Rock away from that hill." Pete chuckled to himself.

Pete got at the wheel and started to sail away, but stopped after a few feet.

"Wait a minute. All I really have to do is drop this thing into the river! Won't do me any good to just take it back." Pete said as he got out again and went to the Cornerstone.

"HEY YOU!" A familiar voice shouted.

Pete turned to see his past-self trying to catch his breath as he dragged the past version of Mickey towards him.

"Give me back my boat!" Past Pete demanded.

"Oh it's just me. Scram! I'm busy." Pete waved off as he got back onto the boat to work the crane at the back.

"What do you think you're doing to my boat!" Past Pete demanded.

"Shuddup! I am you so back off and let me do what I want with my boat!" Pete argued.

"Stop talking crazy and get down here!" Past Pete yelled as he grabbed Pete by his jacket and tossed him off the boat. Past Pete then noticed the Cornerstone. "What is this thing? Some kind of treasure?"

Pete got up and slugged his past-self. "Your future is on the line pal! So back off and give me the boat!"

"Mickey! Do something will ya!" Past Pete yelled as he rubbed his head where Pete hit him.

Past Mickey jumped onto Pete's back.

"Get off of me!" Pete demanded as he tried to shake Past Mickey off.

"Atta boy Mickey! Now hold him down." Past Pete said as he readied a punch, but Pete managed to shake Past Mickey off and tossed him towards Past Pete causing both of them to tumble to the ground.

"You're still wet behind the ears." Pete laughed.

"Then try us!" Sora shouted as he and the rest of his group made it to the river.

"You brats are beginning to become a pain in my posterior." Pete growled. However, Pete jumped back into the Steam boat and took off with the Cornerstone in hands. But Past Pete recovered and jumped onto the Cornerstone's cage.

"Give me back my boat!" Past Pete demanded as he climbed to the top of the cage.

"You nincompoop! We need to get this stone…" Pete began approaching the cage, but his past-self cut him off.

"And another thing. What's with this rock?" Past Pete demanded.

Pete then got an idea.

"This stone is actually a curse see?" Pete said.

"What? Cursed?" Past Pete gasped.

"That's right. So I'm going to have it swim with the fishes." Pete said as he reached for the crane to pick up the Cornerstone and drop it but Past Pete jumped off the crate and right in front of Pete blocking him.

"Don't you go throwing stuff in my river!" Pete demanded.

"Why you." Pete growled. However, before he could do anything, he was nearly hit by an arrow.

Both Pete's turned to see Takumi with the Fujin Yumi in hand pointing it right at them.

"One chance. Pull that boat over or the next arrow will be for your head." He threatened.

"You've got some nerves." Pete growled but Takumi shot another arrow at him. Pete clapped his hands causing a barrier to appear around him stopping the arrow from reaching him.

"What the?" Takumi asked surprised.

"I've picked up a few tricks over the years I've been helping Maleficent." Pete laughed as the Force-field disappeared.

However, the boat suddenly turned and headed towards the shore.

"What the?" Pete gasped as he turned to see Kaze at the wheel. "When did you get here?"

Kaze smirked. "When indeed." He said vaguely. In truth, he jumped onto the boat when Pete went for the wheel. Pete failed to notice him thanks to his stealth training.

"Why I outta…" Pete began.

"For the last time. GET OFF MY BOAT!" Past Pete shouted as he punted Pete off his boat and to the shores.

Pete groaned as he got up to see Sora, Corrin, Takumi, Donald, Goofy, and Sakura glaring at him with their weapons ready. Kaze then joined them as well.

"Fine then. You punks want to go a few rounds with old Pete? Then let's go!" Pete declared as he got ready for a fight.

Sora and Corrin charged at Pete, but Pete tossed several small orbs to the ground threat immediately exploded causing Sora and Corrin to jump back.

Pete used the smoke from the explosion to try and run.

"He's getting away!" Kaze yelled.

"Coward." Takumi spat as smoke cleared, but they could still see Pete running further away.

"He must be heading for the door!" Sora shouted as they gave chase leaving Past Pete and Past Mickey behind to check the Steamboat for damage.

Pete ran until he thought he lost them. "Darn those little brats." Pete growled as he started to wave his hands. Unknown to him, Sora and the others were hiding further away waiting.

"He's going to summon the door. As soon as he does, lock it." Corrin whispered to Sora who nodded.

Pete summoned the door and opened it. "So long as I have this door, I can try as many times as I like." He laughed as he ran through and shut it.

"NOW!" Corrin shouted as Sora jumped towards the door with Keyblade in hand.

Sora shot a beam of light at the door and a locking sound was heard as the door vanished.

The others walked up to him.

"So, is that it?" Takumi asked.

"Yep. This thing can lock or unlock any lock good. And since Maleficent doesn't have a Keyblade on her, that door will never open for them again. So, they can no longer abuse the past." Sora said.

"If it could do all that, then my lock picking abilities will be useless." Kaze muttered.

"Don't worry Kaze. There are many things you can do that Sora can't. For example, sneaking onto the boat. Sora is way to loud for that." Corrin laughed.

"HEY!" Sora shouted.

Past Pete and Past Mickey walked up to the group.

"Well, I guess you folks aren't half bad after all. Much more useful than this runt." Past Pete said pointing to Past Mickey much to his annoyance. "And since you helped me get back my boat and shooed off that werdo, I'll let you pilot my Steamboat. Best little craft on the river."

"Thanks. We need to take that Cornerstone back to the central hill anyway." Donald said.

"That rock?" Past Pete asked as Donald nodded. "Fine then. Just take it with you when you leave. I don't want to see it in my river again."

"Deal." Goofy said.

"And take this with you. That thief dropped it when he fled." Past Pete said handing Sora a small bag.

Sora opened the bag and saw several seeds inside it.

"These must be the seeds that sprouted those thorns." Sora gasped.

"I guess Pete must of changed his plans when he saw us chase after him." Corrin muttered.

"What all this about thorns?" Past Pete asked.

"O-Oh nothing." Sakura smiled sweetly.

Kaze got to pilot the Steamboat down the river as they dragged the Cornerstone of light back to the Central hill. Everyone else enjoyed the peaceful scene of floating down the river on Captain Pete's Steamboat.

"This is nice, isn't it Takumi?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah…It is." Takumi gave a small smile. As wacky as this world is, he couldn't deny that this moment was rather peaceful.

At Maleficent's Lair:

Pete was trying to open the door, but the door remained firmly shut.

"Come on...why isn't it opening?" Pete grunted as he tried and failed to open the door.

"Back so soon? I trust that you were successful." Maleficent said approaching Pete.

"Um...well..." Pete began.

"Are you having trouble opening the door?" Maleficent asked

"Uh-oh." Pete mumbled.

Once the Cornerstone was unloaded, Past Pete sailed off with Past Mickey waving goodbye.

Sora and Corrin placed the Cornerstone back where it once was on the hill where Disney Castle would soon be built upon.

"He has issues and a bad attitude, but I guess he isn't a bad person." Sora said thinking about Past Pete.

"Sad how he turned out." Corrin said.

"Things happen over the years." Goofy sighed.

"Well, anyway, now that the Cornerstone is safe, the door is locked and the seeds are secured, Disney Castle should be back to normal now." Corrin said.

"Good. Let's get out of here." Takumi sighed.

"Wait a moment. Before he go…" Donald began with an excited look on his face.

The next thing he knew, Sora and Goofy were dragging him towards the door. Corrin opened the door and the two tossed the duck through before walking through it themselves along with the Hoshidans.

Back in the present:

The Thorn had vanished and the Cornerstone had regained its power which also meant the Heartless roaming the castle were immediately expelled. Disney Castle was once agian safe.

The door to the past opened and Donald went flying out as everyone else walked out.

"We're back!" Sora said.

"The thorns have vanished. I can't thank you enough for what you've done." Minnie smiled.

"Donald!" Daisy cheered as she hugged her boyfriend.

"We got the seeds!" Donald said handing Daisy the bag of seeds, who promptly tossed them to the ground and stomped on them…repeatedly.

"As if things aren't bad enough, now we have to keep an eye on the past as well." Daisy grumbled.

"Amazing how you said that so normally." Takumi commented flatly.

"I hope you all didn't do anything reckless in there." Merlin asked.

"Of course not." Donald immediately said as the others stared at him.

"Regardless, I'm just happy the castle is safe." Minnie said as she stared at the Cornerstone.

'She must really miss the King.' Sora thought sadly with his thoughts drifting towards Kairi. Then something came to him.

"Say, didn't you say the King sends you letters?" Sora asked.

Minnie nodded. "Sometimes."

"Do you send them back?" Sora asked.

"I can. Do you need me to tell him something? I don't think asking for a meeting place will work with how busy he's been." Minnie said.

"No but, we made a discovery and we need to let him know." Sora said as he placed a hand on his heart.

Corrin, Donald, and Goofy immediately realized what Sora was saying.

"That's right. Queen Minnie! We found Ven's heart!" Donald said causing Minnie and Daisy to gasp.

"You did?" Minnie asked surprised.

"How? The King and Master Yen Sid were looking into that for years." Daisy asked.

"Well, it all happened like this..." Corrin began and told them about their meeting with Vanitas in the Land of Dragons.

"Oh dear. So, Vanitas is back as well?" Minnie asked worried. She had never met the guy, but she did hear about him from Mickey, and how dangerous he was as he was able to fight off Mickey himself, and hold out well against a Keyblade Master like Aqua.

"So now those Unversed are back as well? Can things get any worse?" Daisy asked worried.

"We need you to tell the King that right away." Sora said.

"I will. I'll get started on the letter immediately. For now, please just keep his heart safe. I've met Ventus before. He's a nice boy." Minnie said and Sora nodded.

"Well then, I'd best get back to Hollow Bastion. That computer thingy that Cid set up in my house makes me nervous sometimes. I swear I fear it's going to explode on me one day." Merlin said stating his concern on Technology.

"How's things going there?" Sora asked.

"So far no changes. Right now though, Leon is preparing to start searching the castle for Ansem's computer. Once we find it, we will let you know. We believe that it could have valuable data on things like the Organization." Merlin said

"And I'm just going to pretend I have a clue on what you're saying." Takumi said.

"Speaking off, what do you plan on doing now Takumi?" Corrin asked.

"I'm going with you. What do you think?" Takumi retorted.

"Says who?" Donald demanded.

"I'm not letting my little sister travel these 'worlds' alone with you. I don't trust you." Takumi said.

"I-I'm fine so far, but I would like it if he could come with us." Sakura said. Kaze didn't say anything, but everyone already knew his stance on the issue.

"Just let him come Donald. We could use the help." Corrin said.

"You know what? Fine. No one listened to me the last times, why would it be any different now?" Donald grumbled.

Just then, the Cornerstone started to glow brighter prompting Sora to summon his Keyblade to unlock another path.

Once that was done, the group said their goodbyes.

"You promise to call once in a while this time?" Daisy asked sternly.

"Scouts honor." Donald promised raising his hand. He was not going to make that mistake again.

"Don't you worry Queen Minnie. We'll bring the King back home safe and sound." Goofy promised.

"Thank you." Minnie said. "And safe travels to all of you."

Queen Minnie then handed Sakura a scroll.

"This will teach you how to use that Pearl spell you wanted to learn." Minnie said.

"T-Thank you your majesty." Sakura said taking the scroll.

"And good luck to you." Minnie smiled.

With that, the group headed to the Gummi ship ready for their next destination.

Meanwhile with the bad guys:

"So…Not only have you failed, but you also lost the door forever?" Maleficent growled as Pete was groveling at her feet.

"I-I tried my best." Pete whimpered.

"And what's more you lost the seeds?" Maleficent growled.

"W-Well, with those brats here, I decided to improvise." Pete said.

Pete was rewarded with multiple blasts of lighting.

And that's a wrap!

Bit of a long chapter here, but Timeless River and Disney Castle is finally done.

Yes Takumi will learn Aero. That will probably be it for magic for him since I wasn't planning on giving him magic, but Aero works too well for Takumi.

As for Pete fleeing, well he is a coward. I could imagine him fleeing instead of fighting a group of opponents like that. At least in the Underworld, he assumed that Sora and co were still under the effects of the Underworld's curse which would give him an advantage. So he will fight them there. But much like Axel, Pete doesn't have much in his move-pool since most he does is toss bombs around and with the Olympus Colosseum coming up, I didn't want to write the same boss two times in a row.

As for Vanitas, he'll show up again...sooner or later. XD

Next up will indeed be the Olympus Colosseum where our Hoshidan tag-alongs will finally get a chance to train some new skills.

Ether way, be sure to follow and review and I will see you guys next time.

Rak: I think the Fujin Yumi is made out of something more harder than wood, so that would probably hurt even more. Still I appreciate the complement though I don't know if I'd say I'm a great writer yet. My fight scenes for one still need work along with other things. But thank you though.