[IC] More Than Just Pieces (Gummi Bunnies & Gohan)

[Gummi Bunnies]

"A few more things to do here...and it's off to the final confrontation," Kaika spoke to herself and no one else in particular. Sitting by the lake shores of the Spirit World, right under the magnificent sakura blossom tree that glistened in radiance. Time doesn't move in the Spirit World, but it had been a long and tiresome training journey to further master her skills with other Pact Bearers for the final confrontation. Most of the time she was occupied by lectures with Nero or sparring with Peyton, but at the Passing Lake, this was the only time Kaika got to herself for alone time. No one ever comes here due to the other priorities from the inevitable Reality War, but knew that people assume that she runs off here anyways. "Well, gotta go back and see what else there is to do. I can't stay here too long or Nero's gonna lecture me again..." she sighed as she stood up and brushed the blossom petals from her skirt. Before she would leave the Passing Lake, a strange abnormal sight grabbed her attention, something that wasn't an everyday thing to see in the Spirit World. A black cat was also by the shores of the lake, observing the water. Just what was a cat doing here?

"H-Hey!" Kaika tried to get the cat's attention, having a feeling that this wasn't just a random cat. The cat ignored her call, and started to swiftly walk on the water. From deep inside, Kaika could feel that the cat had a ton of power, something different from spirits, demons, or even Shadow Replicas. It only took a few moments for Kaika to realize that the cat seemed to be headed for the small island in the middle of the lake: the Unnamed Monument. "Shit...hopefully I don't get in too much trouble for this..." she said to herself, knowing that it was forbidden to tread in the lake waters, and quickly jumped in to swim after the cat. Swimming as fast as she could with each stroke, Kaika kept her sights at the cat who seemed to continue it's way towards the monument. "Get over here!....you stupid...cat!" Kaika yelled out, trying not to swallow the water. As if the cat wanted to taunt and let her catch up, it stopped and turned around to see Kaika. Just moments before Kaika would get her hands on the cat, it suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue butterflies. "W-Wha-!!!" Kaika was dumbfounded by this, but then felt like something was pulling her down into the water. At first she couldn't tell what exactly was doing this, but used her sensory abilities to figure out that there was a strange rift near the bottom of the lake. As much as she tried to rapidly swim herself away from the rift, it only made it pull her towards the rift even faster, losing all of her senses to know what was going on. Before she would eventually knock out and let the rift take her away, a familiar voice called out from the surface,"Kaika!" Sota... she thought as she heard the familiar voice of her boyfriend, her eyes trying to stay awake, but was close to losing consciousness as the rift was closer and closer. by now, she couldn't see, but she felt someone grab onto her hand. Yet, she lost her grip on whoever grabbed her, and lost consciousness once falling endlessly through inside the rift.

---

Within the Traverse Town in the Dream World, it seemed all average, like it was the first time that Sora was there. It was only one thing that seemed rather off: a blue butterfly that had no relation towards the hostile Dream Eaters or anything else that Sora would had ever gone against before. This butterfly was fluttering in place, as if it were waiting, but if Sora would go near, the butterfly would begin to flutter away in a certain route for Sora to follow.

[Ringrose]

Sora had just taken a break from his Training. He was laying back against the belly of one his Dream Eaters, Kooma Panda. He chuckled, watching Necho Cat dance and sing with Meow Wow. "I'm glad I have you guys here with me, you make great company. If you guys weren't here, I'd get pretty lonely." Sora said. "Traverse Town is so empty in the Dream World..I mean, I know that it's because nobody needs it...but still." Sora sighed. Sensing sadness, the two small Dream Eaters pounced on him. "H-hey! hahahahaha!" Sora laughed, taking affection from the two Dream Eaters. He stood up after a moment. "Alright, i guess it's time to get back to training, can't let Riku show me up, him and Yen Sid training Lea and Kairi." Sora grinned, starting to walk. Sora then noticed something. "Hey! look, a butterfly! I wonder if butterflies dream too? hey, do you want to be friends, butterfly?" Sora decided to go run up to it.

[Gummi Bunnies]

As soon as Sora came close, the butterfly would flutter away from him, but slow enough for him to see it in his sights. The direction of where this butterfly was leading him, it was towards the 3rd District of Traverse Town. Once in the 3rd district, this blue butterfly perched itself on one of the railings in the area, waiting for Sora. However, soon after the butterfly began to fade away, it's radiant blue essence being blown away into thin air. Like this butterfly was just to lure him to this part of Traverse Town, a sudden disruption of the world occurred, an abnormal rift tearing through the ground of Traverse Town's 3rd district. It was like the butterfly was luring him to a trap, and this rift didn't seem so easy to evade or fight against as it was strongly pulling Sora towards it.

[Ringrose]

Sora followed the butterfly happily, all the way to the Third District. He looked for it but it was gone, and noticed something was wrong. The ground was tearing apart. Panicked, Sora tried to get away while he still could, but it was breaking fast, Sora slipped. He could have used flomotion but it couldn't have kept going forever. He fell down into the rift bellow. "Riku!!" Sora yelled out, flying down through the rift.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, up in Yen Sid's tower, Sora's groaned in his sleep, turning to the side. "Riku..help..." he muttered. Master Yen Sid looked over at Sora. He disappeared, and went below to the ground where Riku, Lea and Kairi were, Riku training them. "Riku, I believe we may have trouble."

[Gummi Bunnies]

As Sora was re-taking his Mark of Mastery exam, Riku had been training Lea and Kairi as they had their own keyblades, and that Riku had recently became a Keyblade Master. It was only now that seemed to be off, starting off with Yen Sid giving word that something had went wrong. "What happened?" Riku had asked seriously, but deep down in his heart, he knew that Sora could be in danger in the Dream World.

[Ringrose]

"Well, Sora had previously went through his training, as usual. However just now, I noticed something troubling. He seemed to be calling out your name, Riku. This is a very clear sign something unexpected has happened. I know it not to be Master Xehanort, as at least he even knows both sides will need preparation. This may be something we've yet to encounter. As an official Keyblade Master, I want you to go and Dive into Sora's Dream World, and investigate. Sora trains in Traverse Town, so you'd do well to go there. Report back your findings, and based on what you tell me, I will explain how to proceed. Lea, Kairi. Continue your training, you have much work to do. Get going Riku. Sora is sleeping at the top of the tower, where he usually is." Yen Sid said. And with that, he disappeared.

[Gummi Bunnies]

Understanding on what he has to do, Riku headed into the tower and went up to the top to see Sora asleep. He summoned his keyblade, and began to Dive into Sora's dreams, towards Traverse Town. Soon, Riku sees that he is now diving towards the Traverse town of Sora's Dream World, and hoped that nothing too dire were to happen to him.

Riku opened his eyes to see that he was in an empty Traverse Town, and no sign of Sora or even his Dream Eaters. Not seeing anything of interest yet, he began to explore almost every single part of the town, until he got to the in-between area of the second district and the third district. A powerful resonance came from the third district, and gave him the sign that something wasn't right there.

---

"...Sota!" Kaika instantly woke up from the nightmare she had while unconscious, breathing heavily and her face full of sweat. At least it was only a nightmare, but ever since getting her Pact, dreams were different for her. Calming down from her sleep-filled panic, Kaika noticed that this was definitely not the Spirit World, surrounded by large hallways that seemed endless and identical. by a glance, this felt like some fancy mansion, but it was unsettling how there seemed to be no signs of life anywhere in these hallways. "Weird...I don't feel much of a soul here at all...it's like this place is completely dead...." she commented as she stood up. Before looking around, she checked her backpack to see that her belongings like her phone and some magical potions for different healing ailments were still inside. Quietly, she snuck around the empty hallways, trying to be stealthy even if there seemed to be no one around. Yet, she did feel a very faint source of life from far away, and it gave her some hope that she wasn't alone. It was pure soul energy...so it was certain that this source of life she was feeling wasn't at all bad.

[Ringrose]

Waking up, Sora looked around. "Where am I?" Sora stood up. Looking around, it seemed he wasn't in Traverse Town anymore, as he didn't recognize the area he was in. "Great, I hate mazes." Sora walks down one hallway, looking around. It was very mysterious, Sora wondered where he even was. "Hello? does anyone live here?" Sora only got silence in response. "I remember that butterfly, then something happened with Traverse Town, the ground started to tear apart, and I fell..why did that happen, did someone mean to bring me here?" Sora pondered this, walking down the hallway.

[Gummi Bunnies]

Slowly advancing to the third district, Riku immediately paused once he saw a major difference in there. A large rift that happened to tear through the floor's pavement, a blue essence resonating from the depths of the rift below. "This must be it..." he commented only how peculiar this seemed, it was most likely an outside force. He kept his distance from this rift, having a feeling that he may be pulled in without knowing it...he still had to report back to Yen Sid in the real world. Seeing as there wasn't anything else that seemed off in Traverse Town, Riku exited Sora's Dream World, waking up back at the top of the tower.

Riku stood up and explained to Yen Sid,"I found out something different in Traverse Town, it was a huge rift from the ground of the Third District...I have a feeling that Sora's on the other side of that rift. I couldn't think on what could had caused it...it's really different."

---

Kaika kept on walking, the redundancy of the hallways' patterns began to frustrate her, her patience running out. "If only Miki were here, she might be helpful in this situation. Hell, at least her company I can get used to," she groaned to herself as she fiddled with the bandaging on her leg, which wasn't for any wound but something hidden under and kept in the white cloth on her leg. She wasn't sure where she was going to end up, she never really knew of this reality at all. Her only aim was towards the only life source she could sense at the moment, which shouldn't be too far away from her now. Then something breaks the repetitiveness of this hallway pattern, a loud metal noise rang throughout the hallways, something or someone else was here. "...who's there?" Kaika asked out loud, no response on who or what made the metal noise. After waiting for the silent response, she continued on finding the source of life, becoming close to Sora's location. She couldn't understand much of the sudden metal sound and why they happened earlier, but her curiosity peaked as the sounds were happening again. This time, it repeated rapidly, coming from all directions.

[Ringrose]

"Indeed, however something that could cause a rift in the Realm of Dreams itself is certainly nothing to take lightly. If it targeted Sora directly in the Dream Realm instead of the real world, it is likely that perhaps these person's or person, cannot physically mess with his real world self." Yen Sid said, his voice echoing in the room before he reappeared. Yen Sid stood silently, pondering. "Dream Eaters have sentience, but none could be capable to go this far. There are few beings who dwell in the land of illusions, but for a Powerful Sorcerer, or Wizard, if you prefer, it does not sit right with me, what perhaps could have caused this. Yes, I can feel it. It must be them..Riku, you are aware of Maleficent, the evil Sorceress you encounter quite often, yes? you see Riku, think of me, and Maleficent with our magical prowess. There are beings that reside on a higher level then us. Even with all of my power, I am nowhere the peak these beings have achieved. These beings, are divided into benevolent, and malevolent. They call themselves "Witches", these beings are extremely powerful and ancient, they rarely show themselves to human beings or those who dwell in the lower existences. However, for an express purpose, these Witches, maybe have taken Sora for an expressed interest in him, perhaps for a purpose. Because of there sheer power in magic, these beings can not be easily dealt with. So, here is what we shall do. I want you to take this letter to King Mickey, he will understand what to do." Yen Sid, holding out the letter. "Use Sora's Gummi Ship, it is outside so there is no need to worry. Follow his instructions, for he shall know what to do. I will oversee Lea and Kairi's training during your absence."

Sora heard a strange metal bang, he couldn't tell what it was from because of the seemingly endless hallways. "Who's there, what do you want?!" Sora yelled out, drawing his Keyblade. "Who are you, why did you take me to this place?" Sora began to ran to where he thought of where it was coming from, down a hallway with his Keyblade.

[Gummi Bunnies]

This was completely new. Heartless, Nobodies, Dream Eaters, and now Witches. By the way Yen Sid explained on what exactly these Witches were, Riku knew this wasn't something he should take lightly. "Then I'll be off. I'll make sure that Sora gets back safe," Riku said, understanding what kind of task this would be, taking the letter for King Mickey. With a nod to Yen Sid, he departed from the top of the tower, making his way outside. As he headed for the Gummi Ship, he said to Lea and Kairi,"I'll be back." then he went inside the Gummi Ship, setting course for the Disney Castle. Once the Gummi Ship lifted itself into the air, it took off for Disney Castle.

---

Having a bad feeling about this, Kaika quickly put two fingers on the white bandaging on her leg, and began to focus as much energy as she can. Her eyes darting around for any kind of surprise attack, her breathing becoming unsteady. One more clank of metal resounded, and it sounded closer than any of the other bangs from earlier. Her heightened senses giving her a sudden warning, Kaika had to remove her fingers from her leg and flicked out her hidden blade just in the nick of time. Right after her hidden blade was out, a stake made out of metal sped from above and collided with the small hidden blade, being deflected away from Kaika. "Whatever this is...it's really fast..." she mumbled under her breath, keeping her eye on the metal stake. Another bang, metal stake rebounded from a wall, redirecting itself back at Kaika. Like the last time, she was able to block the metal stake with her hidden blade, but since this stake came with much more force, Kaika was immediately lost her balance and fell to the ground. This metal stake began to rebound on the walls, ceiling, and the floor, but didn't seem to aim for Kaika, who was clearly vulnerable to attack. Instead, this metal stake navigated and aimed itself for Sora, coming from above.

[Ringrose]

Yen Sid appeared down where Lea and Kairi were. "Alright, we shall continue the same training Riku had you doing before. I will be overseeing you until his return. Begin."

"Here I go!" Sora said looking up, he pointed his Keyblade at the metal stake. "Stop!!" the spell activated and the stake stopped in mid-air, frozen in time temporarily. Seeing Kaika, Sora went over and grabbed her hand and started running as fast he could. "C'mon, we don't have much time before it starts again. I'm Sora, by the way, what's your name?" Sora said with a grin on his face like the situation was nothing to worry about.

[Gummi Bunnies]

Once Riku arrived to the Disney Castle, he quickly exited the Gummi Ship and wondered where the King would be at.

---

So much happening at once, Kaika was quickly dragged along by Sora, who managed to use some spell to keep the attacking stake in place. At least that would buy them some time, and Kaika kept charging energy to the white bandaging on her leg with her two fingers. "My name's Kaika..." she said once she regained her focus, introducing herself to Sora. It was certain that this boy was also someone foreign to this mysterious place, that he had fallen to the same trap that Kaika had been tricked into. Even if she wasn't in her Partial Mode, her eyes flashed pink as a sign that she knew that they had a few more seconds before the stake would be free of the time-stopping spell. "I would enjoy the introductions some more, but I guess we definitely don't have the time for that soon," Kaika said once she realized this sensory warning, glancing behind them for the metal stake that would be back for them. Yeah...would be better if Miki were still with me... she thought to herself.

[Ringrose]

Mickey happened to be wandering outside with Minnie when he noticed Riku. He walked up to him. "Oh, Riku! what is it?" he noticed there was a seriousness to him. "Has something happened?" Mickey asked, his face growing serious also.

"Nice to meet you, Kaika! alright, let's see if we can make a quick shortcut! whoever brought us here wants us to play by there rules, so all we have to do is cheat the rules! hang on to me tight Kaika, I've got an idea!" Sora said. He ran towards a wall and bounced off it with flow-motion, the on to another. Now In the air, Sora sliced a circle shape with his Keyblade through the ceiling, and then jumped through the hole.

[Gummi Bunnies]

"Sora could be in trouble, something happened during his training, and it isn't any good either," Riku briefly explained to Mickey as he handed Yen Sid's letter to him.

---

Kaika only gave a nod as she kept a tight grip, hanging on as Sora moved swiftly using flowmotion. With her sensory ability, she could feel the stake coming after them again. Before they would be struck again, they were past the ceiling through some hole that Sora was able to open. "Well...that happened," Kaika commented, sensing that the stake didn't follow them through this hole. She could say that past the ceiling, they were in another set of hallways, identical to the floor below. At least for now, it would be awhile until they were suddenly attacked by whatever this mysterious place offered. It made her wonder though, did anyone in the Spiritual World realize her disappearance besides Sota?

[Ringrose]

"Alright, let see what we have here.." Mickey opened the letter and read it. "Minnie, I'm going away for awhile. Donald and Goofy are in charge while I'm gone." Riku put the letter away into his pocket. "C'mon Riku, we have to make haste. We're gonna go save Sora." Mickey said, and made his way towards the Gummi Ship.

"Gah, really!" Sora stood up, annoyed. "Alright, I'm getting really fed up with this. First I get dragged from dream Traverse Town during my training, then I get sent here with no idea where I am, then we escape some metal spiky thing, and now we're in an exact replica of the floor bellow us!! whoever is doing this, didn't you take us here for a reason? if you have something to say, come and say it! because If I don't get any answers, or some type of exit, my friends are just going to come and save me, probably under Master Yen Sid's supervision. Wanna know why? because, I failed my Mark of Mastery test! soon, there's gonna be a battle between seven lights, and thirteen darkness's. And I need to train for that. And if you interrupt that...there'll be, serious consequences. So stop it!!" Sora exclaimed threateningly. He wasn't the best at making very big threats but it was important to train for this, he wasn't lying.

[Gummi Bunnies]

"Right," Riku said as he quickly went back into the Gummi Ship,"Where to?"

---

Kaika only stood there as Sora happened to threaten whoever was behind this whole mess. I would say the same thing... she thought, remembering that her world was soon to be in a Reality War against Yasu. As much as she would speak out her mind, Kaika knew that whoever this was behind the mess, he or she (or even it) wouldn't listen to them. "Guess whoever this is, they won't listen, probably sitting somewhere laughing at us. But they better know that we're not alone," Kaika said, crossing her arms. She knew that the Spiritual World would be going full on priority to find her and maybe Sota, who could had been sucked here too. Wanting to see what would happen, Kaika activated her partial mode, closing her eyes and holding out her hands. There was a faint link between her and Miki, and she used that as her target to manifest a small portal to the Spiritual World. A small source of energy formed in front of her, but it sparked out and Kaika flinched a bit in pain as this failed right away. Well...there goes the easy way out... she thought to herself as she reverted back to normal, opening her eyes.

[Ringrose]

"They only way to get Sora back is to wake him up. So we have to go in after him. But unlike Sora, who's probably lost and confused, I know how to handle this." Mickey said, getting into the Gummi Ship. "Just follow my lead when we get there." Mickey said, setting the course.

"Okay, fine. We'll play by the rules, then." Sora said, sighing and admitting defeat after a moment. "C'mon Kaika, it's obvious that whoever brought us here wants us to wander around these hallways until we get somewhere. So, let's start wandering. But let's mark where we are for later." Sora said, and made a cut on the ground with his Keyblade. He started to walk down the hallway in front of them. "But if we do, I at least want to get somewhere instead of just getting attacked again like last time, it's only fair if we follow the rules." he said.

[Gummi Bunnies]

Riku only gave an understanding nod, but was tempted to ask on how Mickey knew of this, about the Witches.

---

"Might as well, it'll pass the time quick," Kaika sighed and followed, constantly activating her sensory abilities to see that there wasn't anything weird popping out at them. Even if she didn't sense anything off, she could feel a faint recognizable energy, but she couldn't think on who could it be. Not wanting it to be completely silent, Kaika spoke,"So, you were lured into this place...just kinda like me."

[Ringrose]

"Don't worry, you won't be kept in the dark. Well, as Yen Sid must of explained, Witches, are well, Witches. But not like what you would normally expect. They're enigmatic beings, almost godlike for the power they hold. In fact, they can go to a level that is considered a god. But we won't talk about them, especially..her if we don't have to. Anyway, we usually don't talk about them unless we have to, which is the case. They rarely appear before normal people, like what you guys were before everything was set into motion by Xehanort. From what I'm guessing, Sora has caught there interest. They need no reason, they simply do as they wish. But, this is different. Sora is needed, so as a King and representative of Master Yen Sid, we will go and diplomatically take him back. We cannot show hostility, in order to gain favor we have to be calm and show respect, despite what has been done." Mickey explained. They landed back at Mysterious Tower.

"Yeah, I was. No clue why though. Obviously they need us for something, though I don't get if they want something from us, they're making us go through all of this." Sora said while walking.