The young seven, the Keyblade Masters and Fizzlepop have manage to escape the Storm Kingdom and found a safe cave to hide and rest in right before nighttime.
Inside the cave they were in, they’ve manage to build a campfire to keep the place light up so Lightning wouldn’t be scared of the dark.
Speaking of Lightning, he was in Silverstream’s arms with a blanket wrapped round him as the pink hippogriff slowly and gently rocked herself side to side while softly singing a lullaby to the colt.
Sleep my little brother
Sleep my little star
Sleep little piece
Of my heart
This little colt
Now wants to sleep
Let’s make his bed
Full of warmth and love
Once she finished singing, Lightning was now peacefully fast asleep. Silverstream gently gave the colt to Smolder as she gently held him in her claws and rested his head on her chest while Silverstream slowly and carefully placed the blanket on his shoulders a bit.
The others watched the sweet little colt sleep peacefully in Smolder’s warm hug.
“Gosh,” said Mickey happily but also quietly, “He’s so adorable when he’s sleeping.”
“Sora said the same thing when he first came here,” said Ocellus, “Only he said cute instead of adorable.”
“I still can’t keep my eyes off him from how cute he still is,” Silverstream said happily while looking at the little colt, her smile then turned into a frown afterwards, “But, there is one thing that’s still bothering me though.”
“And what would that be?” Riku asked kindly and curiously.
“Well, you see,” Silverstream began to explain, “It’s about what happened with Tempest Plagueis back at the Storm Kingdom. Lightning Twister would never kill anycreature, even if they were evil. I’m not sure if it was a start of his anger or somecreature’s controlling him and made him kill him. Do you think somecreature or something’s possessing him into doing something he would never want to do?”
Suddenly, Lightning began to whimper in his sleep, but Silverstream calmed down quickly by stroking his mane and softly cooed, “Shhh.”
Riku placed a hand on his chin and began to think if there’s any other way the kill move could have happened and made poor Lightning take the move.
“I don’t really know for sure yet, Silverstream,” he answered, “This is so new that meets the eye, and for what I’ve seen. But whatever it is, I know for sure it wasn’t Lightning’s fault for doing the kill. There must be a reason for all of this, and we will find out what.”
The young six smiled at the Keyblade Master while hoping that there is something going on that’s making Lightning do things he would never do in his young age.
“However,” he quickly said, “There is one thing I wanna know after we escaped. Silverstream, where did you get that Keyblade?”
“Oh she’s not the only one who has a Keyblade now,” said Gallus making Riku and Mickey go confuse now.
“Huh?” Mickey asked.
The four reached their hooves and claw out, while Smolder reached her claw out and gently holding her boyfriend, as they summoned their Keyblades without waking up the sleeping colt. Riku, Mickey and Fizzlepop went wide shock after seeing their Keyblades.
“Gosh!” Mickey said in shock but also quietly, “Where did you even get those?!”
They all just shrugged, even Silverstream. Even though The Master of Masters gave them the Keyblades, they still can’t tell them who gave them their own keys. He didn’t tell Silverstream not to tell anyone about him either, but she decided to not tell them anyways.
“Don’t know,” lied Sandbar, “They have chosen us when we were on our way to the Storm Kingdom to save Lightning and Silverstream. Guess they must have known we needed to be prepared for a dangerous journey ahead of us.”
Riku and Mickey didn’t know if that was a lie or not, but decided to believe them since they did come all this way to save their friends.
“Guess it seems that way,” said Riku, “Keyblades often do that when it comes to choosing their wielders.”
The young six sighed in relief.
“But what about poor Lightning though?” Ocellus asked worriedly, “What if the princesses hears about this and give Lightning punishment that’s even more worst than what Vanitas and Cozy Glow are doing to him?”
“Yona can’t let little pony get punish!” Yona said.
“I’m sure they’ll understand the situation, young ones,” said Fizzlepop kindly, “After all, I did killed The Storm King once, even though I was just saving Twilight and her friends, but they still forgive me for what I have done.”
“Let’s hope so,” said the orange dragon with hope.
“Let’s worry about that in the morning,” suggested Riku, “Right now, I think we should all get some rest before we continue on to the Dragon Lands. You sure it’s not that far to get there, Smolder?”
Smolder gave Riku a smile and nodded her head. “I’m sure of it, Riku. We should be there before lunch time.”
Riku gave Smolder a nod in understood before the Young five slowly laid down on the ground and fell asleep. Smolder carefully laid back against the rock wall of the cave, while still hugging Lightning, and closed her eyes falling asleep.
“Think we should get some sleep too,” said Fizzlepop to Mickey.
“Right.” The king turned to Riku, “You coming, Riku?”
“Yeah, I’ll be with you in a moment,” he said politely to his friend, “I’m just gonna go out for a bit.”
The mouse and pony gave him a nod in understood before walking towards the children to find a nice spot to sleep while Riku walked out of the cave.
Once he was out of the cave but still standing in front and close to it, Riku looked up into the sky with the moon and stars shining across the sky.
Riku let out a peaceful and happy sigh while still looking up, until he heard a voice echoing somewhere around him.
“Riku... Riku...”
“Huh?” Riku started looking around trying to find where that voice was coming from, “Who’s there? Show yourself!”
“Riku... Riku...”
Suddenly, everything around Riku faded and turned straight into darkness making Riku shock and worried about what’s to come next.
The Keyblade Master continued to look around until he saw a big pool of dark blob rising from the ground before turning into a big figure. Riku stood in battle mode as the dark blob melted away to reveal none other than Storm King himself. The evil king smiled at the boy.
“Who are you? And what do you want?” Riku asked while glaring at the yeti.
“Oh please don’t be feel worried or afraid, I’m not gonna hurt you,” said The Storm King in a fake friendly manner, “Allow me to introduce myself, Master Riku. I am The Storm King.”
“The Storm King? You’re the one Fizzlepop was on about! How are you still alive?!”
“Oh don’t you worry,” said Storm King with a smile, “I’m not fully alive just yet. I’m still stuck in a few parts of my stone body while my blood is still trying to pump up more. But that doesn’t mean I can try out my new power after getting that powerful energy Cozy and Vanitas stole from Radiant Garden, and this is what I am talking about. I can travel through minds and even talk to them within minds, and darkness.”
“And you decided to use my mind first?” Asked Riku angrily.
“Fear not,” Storm King said, “I didn’t do anything to your mind, in case that’s what you’re worried about. Just thought I came just for a little chat with the Keyblade Master who stands between the light and the dark...after searching through your past.”
Riku let out a small gasp of shock after hearing him say he has been searching through his past.
“But, that means you...”
“That is correct. I know all about you. About your actions, your choices and...your darkness.”
Riku was now in wide shock as The Storm King began to walk around him while saying, “You can’t stop feeling guilty for what you have done, what you have said, and letting that witch, Maleficent, fill your head with lies about Sora. And let’s not forget about helping her capture all the princesses of light, even Kairi, since it was all Xehanort’s doing before you knew it. And I can’t believe you listened to his Heartless, Ansem, the one you let take over your body after giving you the powers he has.”
Riku didn’t want to believe it, but he was right. He still felt guilty for everything he has done before finally facing Ansem, making the darkness inside his heart his own, reuniting with his friends and becoming a Keyblade Master. The Keyblade Master looked down in shame and placed a hand on his chest.
The Storm King stopped walking around and stood near in front of Riku while smiling at him.
“Riku. Join me.”
Riku looked up at The Storm King.
“I was the one who created Xehanort in the first place. Which also means, Ansem was also my creation. But I can get rid of the things he did and said to you for you. All I want, is the one thing that Tempest Plagueis told you about: The Storm Pony.”
The Storm King reached his hand out to him while saying, “Join me. And all you have to do is help me find him, and I can destroy everything Ansem did to you.”
Riku knew this was wrong, and he knew it might take a long time for him to stop feeling guilty for his actions. But he decided to face it himself as he then glared at the evil king and said, “By becoming a pawn of the darkness again? Never!”
The Storm King’s smile turned into a glare after hearing his response before bending down and then back while reaching his arms making wind blow past him with dark smoke.
Riku covered his face with his arms trying to block the dark smoke wind from getting into his face. And before anything else could happen, the darkness area disappeared turning back to where Riku was before meeting the Storm King, outside the cave at nighttime.
Riku uncovered his face and looked around before hearing a loud stomp near him on his left. He turned to the left and saw Second Shadow standing near him while pulling out her hilt from her belt and made a red light blade appear from it.
Riku glared at the evil cat while summoning his Keyblade.
“Found you as last!” She said evilly.
“Working The Storm King, I take it?”
“I don’t know what got The Storm King thinking the Storm Pony is still important. He likes getting what he wants. But I’m not in it for weird ponies and honesty, you’re not even worth my time. So let’s make this quick!”
Second Shadow charged towards Riku before swinging her blade at him which he ducked to avoid the attack. Riku swung his Keyblade at Second Shadow’s legs but she jumped to avoid the attack.
The evil cat raised her blade in the air and was trying to smack Riku but actually smacked the ground cause Riku dodge rolled to the right.
Second Shadow tried attacking him again by swinging her blade twice, but no matter how hard she did it, the Keyblade Master quickly dodged the attack by bending down.
This gave Riku the upper hand as he smacked Second Shadow across the face with his Keyblade making her walk back a bit and giving her a bruise on her left eye.
She gently touched her bruised left eye before glaring at the Keyblade Master while letting out an angry growl.
“Not bad for trash.”
“What about a Keyblade Master?” Riku asked with a grin on his face.
“Is there a difference?” Second Shadow placed her hilt forward as another red light blade appeared at the other end of the hilt making it a double-bladed weapon.
Riku now had a shock look on his face after seeing her blade was actually a double-bladed. Second Shadow began to spin her blade around while walking towards Riku.
The evil cat used her blade as a boomerang and threw towards the Keyblade Master, but he ducked the boomerang attack and then again as it spun back and landed back in Second Shadow’s paw hand.
Riku swung his Keyblade at Second Shadow several times but she kept moving back while dodging the attack.
Riku roughly kicked Second Shadow in the stomach making move back a bit in pain as she hugged her stomach and dropping her blade. She began to breath slowly and in pain, but she still wasn’t done yet.
The evil cat smirked evilly at the Keyblade Master before slowly walking towards him while saying, “Being a Tempest taught me no set back is too great. When you already lost yourself... A limb’s easy. You know, I killed hundreds of strong warriors. It’d be fun to bring you in. Watch you crack like the others did!”
She then charged towards Riku and began trying to attack him with her claws, but he dodged the claw attack.
“Oh angers you. Just wait till the isolation!” She continued to attack him with her claws, but he kept dodging the attacks, “Torture! Mutilation!” Second Shadow grabbed hold of the blade of Riku’s Keyblade as she tried to push back to him while he tried to push it towards her, “And your friends!”
“I won’t let you hurt them!” He said angrily while struggling to push his Keyblade forwards.
“You can’t stop The Storm King! But...I can stop you.”
She continued to push the blade back, but Riku kicked her in the stomach again making her let go of the blade and hugged her stomach in pain more. Riku made another swing move with his Keyblade and made strong wind blow past him sending Second Shadow flying backwards at the trees breaking through them.
The broken trees fell down on top of her while sending a boulder, that one of the trees was holding, rolling on top of both the trees and Second Shadow, which indeed killed her.
Riku breathed heavily but softly while looking at the destroyed trees as his Keyblade disappeared. He then turned towards the cave and saw Mickey running out of it with a worried look on his face.
He stopped near Riku and looked at him before saying, “Riku, are you okay? I heard fighting going on outside before I went to sleep. What happened?”
“Well...” Riku began to answer, “I think...I just took out a Tempest warrior.”
“You did?”
They both looked at the boulder and destroyed trees as Second Shadow’s arm was poking out of the trees.
“Gosh.” Mickey smiled at Riku, “So you did.”