Chapter 3

Well, um, there are a few limitations.

A few quid pro quos.

-- Genie; Wish-Granter and Owner of Semi-Phenomenal, Not-So-Cosmic Powers; Agrabah

The king's letter read as follows:

Dear Everyone,

First off, I'd just like to let you know that I'm doing well; I got home with Donald and Goofy, and Minnie's very happy to see me back.

That being said, I have some very urgent news.

Is Kairi safe? Have any of you been attacked?

I'm asking, because it seems our work is not done. A Nobody by the name of The Mentor, it seems, is sending other Nobodies under him after people with strong hearts; namely, the Princesses of Heart. So, it's important to know that Kairi is safe.

He also seems to be claiming worlds for himself. Already, Snow White and Aurora have lost their worlds, and I don't know if anyone else's have been lost.

I've been informed by a woman named Miss Green (I don't know if it's her real name or not) of his actions; she says she doesn't quite know what exactly this Mentor's intentions are, but I can agree with her in saying that he's certainly a danger to the worlds, and needs to be stopped.

I also know that Miss Green herself can be trusted, for now; she has the Seal of Yen Sid with her, and it's not something he gives away to just anyone. If she meets with you too, please find a way to let me know.

Please find a way to contact me or visit me at Disney Castle. We have to come up with a way to deal with this Mentor, and like it or not, we have a duty to serve.

Hoping you're all fine,

ºoº

Sora, Riku, and Kairi stared at the letter on Saturday morning, all of them finishing reading it. The unexpected nature of the letter, and its surprising content had all but erased the conflict of the day before from their minds, and they stood together in silence.

Finally, someone spoke.

"Again?" Sora said, somewhat of a pout on his face. "Another Nobody? Why?"

"It wouldn't be hard to imagine somebody trying to take Xemnas' place," Riku said, rubbing his chin. "After all, wasn't he what kept most of the Nobodies organized? Together?"

"It was called an Organization..." Sora said. "If he was, then this Mentor guy probably jumped right in right away. Sounds like he's up to no good!" He made a fist. "I mean, Xemnas didn't try and go and take over worlds."

"He's taken, Snow White and Aurora?" Kairi said worriedly, looking at the paper―she had received it, after all, although Sora was holding it as she and Riku read over his shoulder. "I wonder if the King heard it from this Miss Green. Who do you think she is?"

"I don't know anybody by that name," Riku said.

"Yeah, me either," said Sora. "You either, Kairi?" Kairi shook her head. "How'd she know about this Mentor guy, anyways? Maybe she's from Snow White or Aurora's world?"

"It's a possibility," Riku said.

"I can guess she knows Yen Sid," Sora continued, "if she has his Seal, or whatever it is."

"What kind of a seal does a magician have, anyways?" Riku wondered aloud.

ºoº

The Seal of Yen Sid was, in actuality, a spell in a bottle. He made one for those he deemed worthy, and to receive one was a rare gift indeed.

If one opened the bottle, a butterfly made of smoke and light would appear, filing the room with color and creating an unmistakable calling-card and mark of alliance with the wizard.

Mickey had to force himself to keep his mouth closed when the strange young woman, green hair flying wildly behind her as if possessed with life, produced the seal in his garden.

She had arrived, unexpected and unannounced, there, in the manner of a Nobody: A portal of darkness suddenly appeared, and she had gracefully climbed out and looked around. Max, Junior Captain of the Guard, was quick to report to his father what was going on, and very quickly the girl was surrounded by countless brooms, armed with crossbows; Donald, and the king himself, Keyblade at hand.

She stood and did nothing, green robes swaying in some unseen wind. "Hey, you! Nobody!" Donald yelled at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I come to speak with you, peacefully!" she announced. "There is grave news I must share!"

"What sorts?" Donald continued, but Mickey touched him on the back to make him stop. They waited for the girl to answer.

"A great danger is threatening the worlds, and I must speak with you about it, Keybearer!" she said.

The girl suddenly appeared on the outdoor hallway, and the brooms all aimed at her; she was small, little taller than how tall Mickey remembered Kairi was.

"I do not wish to continue shouting, by the way, Your Majesty," she said softly. Her voice was as gentle as her eyes—also green. "I promise no harm to you."

"What if you try something tricky?" Donald said, eying her. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"I promise you," the girl said, clasping her hands around the Seal (which she had closed in the process of getting to the hallway), "I will not cause any harm to you, nor to anyone else here."

"And what if we harm you?" Donald continued. The girl gave him a cold glance with her glass-green eyes.

"Then you shall have to deal with Mr. Violet."

"Who's Mr. Violet?" Mickey said, not necessarily wanting to know.

Another portal of darkness opened behind the girl, and out of it stepped a fearsome-looking man, dressed in a tattered black suit, with blood-red eyes. His hair, like his name, was a dusky purple.

"I am Mr. Violet," he said, in a deep, no-nonsense voice. "This girl is my charge."

"I see," Mickey said, trying his best not to look scared; there was a sort of presence behind this Mr. Violet that left him slightly terrified. Donald dropped his staff, decidedly less successful at hiding his fear.

"Mr. Violet, please," the girl said, putting a tiny hand on his arm. "We are guests here."

"I'm sorry, my lady," he said, and stepped back, but sounding decidedly unapologetic. The girl gave a subtle smile to Mickey.

"Your Majesty, might we please find some time to talk?" she asked. "I have much to share with you, and it's all very urgent."

Mickey gulped, and nodded. "Yes, of course."

"Have your magician and knight come with you, too," the girl continued, beginning to walk. Mickey could not see her feet. "They deserve to hear this, as well."

Mickey nodded towards them, and still carrying a great deal of suspicion, retreated with the mysterious girl in green to his study. Mr. Violet stood at its door once Mickey closed it.

"Might I sit?" the girl asked, and Mickey nodded. Finding an armchair, she pointed to it and had it placed in front of the king's desk by Mr. Violet, who returned to the door. "Tea?"

"Tea?" Mickey said, seating himself, and the girl nodded with wide eyes.

"Yes, tea," she said, and produced out of her giant green sleeves a teapot, cup, and saucer. They floated gently in the air as she took them out.

"No, thank you," Mickey said, slightly stiffly. The girl nodded, and poured herself a cup. She sipped.

"All right, then," she said. "I believe that, now, a proper introduction is now in order. You may call me Miss Green."

"Very fitting name," Goofy noted, and the girl sent him a slight smile. It was fitting. Almost everything about her was green: Her hair, her eyes, the enormous, formless robe she wore, and her bauble-like glass earrings.

"Thank you," said Miss Green. "As you very well have noticed, I lack a heart."

"A Nobody, right?" Mickey said, and she nodded solemnly.

"Well, wait just a minute!" Donald said. "If you're a Nobody, but you look normal, how come you weren't in the Organization? Or are you in it right now?"

Miss Green gave him a blank glance. "You thought that..." She stared at the cup, giving an almost pathetic smile, "...fool, Xemnas, had control over every Nobody in all the worlds?" she said, almost bitterly. "He was only able to find alliance in 12 others, and the Lessers that they came from."

"Lessers?" Mickey and his subjects echoed.

"Dusks, Dragoons, Dancers," Miss Green listed on her finger. "Surely you've had experience enough with those?" They had. "All Nobodies begin as them, but some 'grow out of it' quicker than others."

"Grow out of?" Y'mean Nobodies grow up?" Goofy said, scratching his chin.

Miss Green nodded, and sipped at her tea. "Yes, in a way. It's a bit like a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly, going from a Dusk to a Samurai, to a... ah, but we're getting off the subject." She let go of her teacup, where it floated almost serenely in the air beside her. "Another Nobody, with even more ambition than Xemnas, has made his presence very violently known, recently."

"Another Nobody?" said Donald.

"Yes," Miss Green nodded. "He goes by the name of The Mentor."

"The Mentor?" said Mickey. "Who is he?"

"Nobody knows who exactly he is, or, more importantly, who he was," Miss Green said. "All we know is that he's amassed a small, but sizable, group of followers, and they're beginning to claim worlds as their own."

"As their own?! That meaning..." Goofy said, almost scared, "...they're taking over worlds?!"

"Only a few, as of yet, but he's showing no signs of stopping," Miss Green said gravely. "Already, the Wishing Kingdom has been completely invaded and overthrown."

"What's the Wishing Kingdom?" Donald said.

"Snow White's home world," Mickey said, his voice low. "Is Snow...?"

"Captured, as far as I know," said Miss Green. "I know nothing else, but that the Dreaming Kingdom may very well be taken next."

"Which is-" Goofy began, but was answered by Mickey's interruption.

"Aurora's home world?!"

"It very well may be," said Miss Green, sadly. "I might be wrong, but he may be targeting the worlds of the Princesses of Heart. I-"

"Before you continue," Mickey said darkly, slamming his hand on the desk, "how do you know all of this? How do we know you're not working for him? For that Mentor?"

"She would never-!" Mr. Violet began, but was silenced immediately by a slight wave of Miss Green's hand.

"I have the trust of the honorable Yen Sid," Miss Green said patiently, producing the seal from her sleeves again, and returning it. "He is helping me and my two assistants in finding information on The Mentor, so we can see what exactly he wishes to accomplish, and how we can stop him."

"Assistants? Like your Mr. Violet, over there?" Goofy said, pointing to the man in question.

"Yes," said Miss Green. "Their names are Miss Red and Miss Blue, and I put my utmost trust in them. You very well may meet them later, but now is not the time."

"Interesting names," Donald said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Mickey had knit his fingers together.

"All right," he said. "Miss Green, for now, I'm going to have to trust you, and ask you what you know about this Mentor, and how it relates to us three."

"I will tell you all I can, Your Majesty," Miss Green said, closing her eyes and nodding her head in a sort of bow. "As for why I came to you with this news, it's simple: You are one of the four Keybearers. It's your duty to keep the worlds in balance, and what The Mentor is doing is upsetting that balance."

"So I have to defeat him?" Mickey said.

"Not alone," Miss Green said, smiling slightly, "but with the aid of many, as you have always done. Mentor must be defeated, however. Although Yen Sid, Miss Red, Miss Blue and I don't know why exactly he wishes to take over these worlds, he's certainly harming them, and this cannot continue."

"I see," Mickey said, and looked up from his fingers. "So, what am I up against, exactly?" Donald and Goofy both gave determined glances in his direction. "Oh, sorry." He smiled slightly at them. "What are we up against?"

"The Mentor, and his assistants. He calls them his Girls, despite the fact that one of them is male." Miss Green said, beginning to stow the china back into her vast sleeves. "Not counting the Mentor himself, there are six female Nobodies and that one male. Those seven, in turn, have various underlings, but I know very little of them."

"Well, it's less than the 12 of the Organization," Goofy said, sounding vaguely cheerful. "Roxas didn't count, did he?"

"Less than 12, yes," Miss Green said, looking at him with her green-glass eyes, "but much more dangerous."

Goofy gulped. "Do y'know anything 'bout these... underlings've theirs?"

"Very little," said Miss Green, "but I will tell you what I can."

And so, she began.

"The Mentor's right-hand man is the one who calls herself Breath. She's the one responsible for invading the Wishing Kingdom," she explained. "Then there's the man, Hua Ping. He has a female assistant of some kind whose name we don't quite know yet. After him is Hourling, who has three male Lessers under her command that she calls her Boys. I can't quite remember their names..."

"Loz, Kadaj, Yazoo," Mr. Violet said, bitterly, from the door.

"That's it," said Miss Green. "I've had experience enough with them, and they're astoundingly... pesky." She frowned, and went on. "The final four I know the least about. Their names, at least, are Weaver, Hefsa, Lady, and Her Majesty. Exceedingly odd, I know, but Xemnas had those anagrams."

"Mentor, Breath, Hua Ping, Weaver, Hefsa, Lady, and Her Majesty," Mickey said, counting them on on his fingers. Eight. Five less than what Xemnas had. "And they're currently taking over worlds?" he said, for clarification. Miss Green nodded. "Well, I suppose Sora's going to have to hear about this."

"The poor kid," Goofy added. "He was so happy to finally be home. Now we gotta go off an' tell him to save the worlds again?"

"It's the tragedy of the Keybearers," Mr. Violet said. Miss Green gave him a soft, slightly pained glance, and he diverted his gaze to his feet.

"The safety of the worlds rests in their hands; a little bit of peace and quiet in their lives is a small price to pay, I suppose," she continued. "It's very important that Sora learns of what's going on as soon as possible."

"Are you going to visit him next?" Mickey said. Miss Green half-heartedly shrugged.

"Perhaps. But, I would think he'll trust me more if he receives a message from you first. After all," she added, "I doubt he knows that Yen Sid even has a seal, much less what it means." She smiled a little. "Do you understand?"

Mickey nodded, slightly. "I just can't believe that we'll have to do this all over again."

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "I thought the worlds were safe!"

"The worlds are never safe," Mr. Violet said, in his grave tone. "So long as there is darkness, there will always be Nobodies and Heartless."

"Mr. Violet, please," Miss Green said. "Your Majesty, I must leave you now, but no doubt we'll meet again. May spring last forever here, when all's been said and done."

She nodded at him with a smile, bowed a little, and was gone with Mr. Violet as suddenly as she had come.

Mickey was left in shock.

Her farewell was one he had heard only once before, and it had been said by Ansem the Wise.

He had very little time to think on it, however, as Aurora's three guardian fairies suddenly appeared, frantic and wailing that their beloved princess had been stolen.

The Mentor had his second world.

ºoº

"I don't know. At any rate," Sora said, "we need to be able to reach the King, and I doubt we could just build a gummi ship here and take off."

"And I can't use darkness anymore," Riku said, flexing his hand. "So, I can't just open a portal like I used to."

"Why don't you call Genie again?" Kairi said, after thinking for a short while. "Isn't that what you did to send the King home?"

Sora's face lit up. "You're right, we should try that!" he said. "We could go right now, and be back by Sunday! Don't you think? I mean, we've missed so much school, but it's the weekend. We can go visit the King, and see just how serious this matter is."

"I doubt it'll take just a weekend to fix," Riku said, somewhat morosely. "I mean, if this guy is as dangerous as the King says he is..."

"Just to talk to him! Okay?" said Sora, frowning a little. "If some Nobody is taking over worlds and stuff, it'll take a lot more time than a weekend to stop him. I know that much, Riku."

"If you say so," Riku said, rolling his eyes a little.

"Well, why don't we ask Genie if he can take us now?" Kairi suggested, sensing slight conflict. "It's still pretty early, and it shouldn't take more than a few hours to meet with the King and come up with a plan."

Sora grinned. "Sounds great! Lets head to the bluffs, though, so we won't be spotted."

The two of them nodded; it would be best to slip away inconspicuously, after all.

The winds were strong, but pleasant, at the bluffs on the western coast of the island, and Sora summoned his Keyblade to call on Genie. The magical being appeared in clouds of pink-blue smoke, and a worried expression.

"Huh, Sora? What is it?" he said.

"Genie, we got a favor to ask of you," Sora said, putting his hands on his hips and smiling as he looked up, but his face fell as he saw how frantic Genie looked. "Uh, is something wrong?"

"Oh, yeah," Genie said, wringing his hands. "The whole palace is in a bit of a tizzy right now, so I'm on a very tight schedule. You're lucky there's nothing going on right now. What is it?"

"We, uh, need you to help us visit the King," Kairi said. "Do you think you could bring us to his palace?"

"Oh, gosh, all three of you?" Genie said. He scratched the back of his head. "Oh, I dunno."

"Huh? But how come you could bring the King home?" Sora said. Genie gave a slightly unpleasant grimace.

"I told you, the palace is in a bit of an uproar," he said. "I'm really busy, and I don't know if I could muster up the time to get you guys there!"

"What happened?" Riku asked.

"Well... Aladdin and Jasmine were gonna get married," Genie said, scratching the back of his head again, "when we got some party crashers."

"They're getting married?" Sora said, before realizing, "Wait, party crashers?"

"Forty thieves, to be exact," Genie said. "They completely trashed the place yesterday, and I had to work overtime to throw out even a handful of those guys. I'm not all-powerful, after all. Semi-phenomenal cosmic powers, and all that."

"Oh, no!" said Kairi, despite the fact that she knew Aladdin only through words. "So what happened, are they all right?"

"Oh, they're fine," Genie said, smiling at her. "The palace, though? Not so much. And Al's absolutely set on finding out what those thieves wanted with us. One of them tried to kidnap Jasmine."

"What?!" the three said.

"Yeah, nearly carried her off," Genie continued. "It was really scary, but I managed to pry her away. It was a woman, of all things, amongst all these ugly guys. She was really rather pretty, but she stung me!"

"Stung you?" Sora said.

"She had a whip with her," Genie said. "Got me right here!" He pointed to his arm, where not a mark was to be seen. "Besides, it took me ages to find her. I could almost not see her! She almost sneaked off with Jasmine, right under my nose! But I got her. Sorta. She warped away somehow."

"Do you think...?" Riku said. "Genie, did you catch her name?"

"What? No," said Genie. "Why?"

"What's going on, Riku?" Sora said.

"Do you think she's one of Mentor's Girls?" Riku asked Sora and Kairi, and their eyes widened.

"Oh!" Kairi said. "It might have been!"

"Genie," Sora said urgently, "you need to make sure Jasmine stays safe-"

Genie suddenly shot upward, as if stung by a bee, and flew back down. "I'm sorry, I have to go!" he interrupted. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you, kids!"

With that, he was gone.

"Well, what do we do now?" said Kairi, after a while. "I suppose we're stuck here, for the time being."

"Gre-eat," Sora groaned, and put his Keyblade away. "I guess we can't get to the palace today, after all."

Kairi knitted her eyebrows, noticing a strange look in Riku's eyes as he stared out to sea. "Riku, is something the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," he said. "Well, I say that we wait until something happens to help us," he said. "I have a feeling that something will. I mean, come on." He gave a somewhat arrogant grin. "We're the Keybladers, right? The worlds'll find a way to let us help them."

"If that's what you think," Sora said, smiling a little. "So, now that we can't do that, obviously, what should we do now, today?"

"Dunno," Riku said, and they began to discuss.

ºoº

The next morning, Sora was awoken by his aunt's violent shaking.

"Sora! Sora, wake up! You have to see this!" she said enthusiastically, grabbing him by the shoulders.

Sora blinked, confused. "Ahumn?" he said.

"Get your shoes on and come on the hill, you can see it from here!" she continued, flying out of his room. "Quickly!"

Yawning, Sora slipped on his sandals and plodded down the stairs, where he followed his aunt to the large hill in their backyard. The hill looked out onto Fate Harbor, which was on the eastern side of the island, and the location of the docks and fish market.

There were strange ships in the harbor. Ships with enormous, white sails, like the ones he had sailed upon in Port Royal.

There were also ships that seemed to float above the water, with glittering, golden sails shaped like fans. Ships he had never seen before.

The harbor was filled with ships from other worlds.