//------------------------------//
// Radiant Garden 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts:  Friendship is Magic 
// by Mudkipman98 
//------------------------------//

	"Hollow Bastion?" asked Rainbow Dash through the com.  "What's that?"
"It's the world we're coming up on," said Riku.  "Let's see if it's still the same hell hole that it was before."
With a nod, Rainbow Dash followed Riku down through the atmosphere and clouds until they came only 40 feet off the ground in the main town.  Together, Rainbow Dash and Riku jumped off of their vehicles which returned to their keyblade forms and landed on the concrete where Sora, Donald, and Goofy had touched down during their last adventure.
They deactivated their armor and took a quick look around.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and there weren't any heartless.  The small town housed some light activity.  A few shops were open and three moogles were conversing at their shop.
"And you said this place was a hell hole?" asked Rainbow Dash.  "Everything looks fine."
"Yeah," said Riku as he scratched his chin in thought.  "A little bit too fine.  What happened that would change everything so fast?"
"We can take a look around if your so bugged by it," said Rainbow, smirking a little.
"Alright."
"Wait, what?"
"Well, you said we should take a look around.  I agree." said Riku.  "I'd like to know what happened that would change this place from 'filled with darkness' to 'relatively non-threatening'."
"Ugh.  Fine," groaned Rainbow Dash.  "But can we get moving?  We need to find the others."
"Yeah.  I wonder how they're doing," said Riku as he thought about what kind of trouble Sora could be in.  "Let's get moving."
Together, Riku and Rainbow Dash set out into the town square.  "Why don't we check out the weapon shop?" asked Rainbow when she noticed the sign above one of the shops.
"Ok," said Riku.  They made their way over to the window where they were greeted by the shop keeper.
"Hello, sir," he said.  "Can I interest you in one of our fine shields?"
"No thanks," said Riku.  "We're looking for an attachment for a specific weapon."
"What's the weapon?" asked the clerk.
Riku held up his hand and summoned his keyblade.  The shopkeeper's face drooped slightly.  "I'm sorry, sir," he said.  "We don't have anything for that.  You might check the moogles on the other side of the square.  Is there anything else I can interest you in?" he finished as he turned to inspect a few of the shields and staves on display.
"Do you have anything with some range to it?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Well, we do have a lance that got sold to us a while back, but it's not in the best condi-"  The clerk stopped as he turned around to address whoever had spoken to him.  When he found no one else to match the voice to, he said, "Who asked me about the lance again?"
"Uh, right here," said Rainbow matter-of-factly, as if it should be obvious.  The clerk just stared at Rainbow Dash like a cow staring at an oncoming train.  His jaw looked like it was ready to drop, but he contained himself for a moment longer.
"Did that thing just talk?" he asked Riku shakily.
"Hey!" said Rainbow Dash angrily.  "Who are you calling a thing?!"
The clerk looked back at Rainbow for a minute, finally allowing his jaw to drop.  He shook his head to clear it before remembering his manners.  "Um, sorry, sorry.  As I was saying before," he continued, trying his best to stay sane, "The Lance isn't in the best condition due to its age, but I'm sure that with a little fine tuning and proper reforging, it could be made into something stronger."
The clerk turned back around and continued to dig through an old chest in the back until he came back with something wrapped in thick, aged leather.  It looked to be about seven feet long and he had to hold it at an angle.  "This is it," said the clerk as he dropped the bundle down on the counter.  He began unstrapping each of the seven straps placed evenly along the bundle's length until it fell open, revealing a golden rod with a fine head that stretched seven feet.  Around the head was wrapped what looked like a silver chain that led from the top and wove around the rest of the staff all the way down to its base.
"No offense, ma'am, but how are you going to hold that?" asked the clerk with a bit of confusion present in his voice.
Rainbow Dash ignored him as she continued to examine it.  "Don't question it," whispered Riku while Rainbow was distracted.  "I'm still not sure how it works, but she's managed to grip her keyblade just fine."
The clerk shook his head in disbelief but nodded to Riku anyway just to avoid the pain that trying to think about something so ridiculous could cause.  "You can give it a test run for 500 munny up front, and then if you like it, you can buy it at 30% off."
"500 munny?!" gasped Riku.  "That's pretty expensive, don't you think?  Especially just for a test run?"
"I'm sorry," said the clerk, "but my manager sets the prices."
"Are you sure this is what you want Rainbow Dash," asked Riku to the cyan pegasus who hadn't looked away from the lance.
"No, that's okay," Rainbow said back.  "While it's a pretty cool weapon, I've already got the keyblade," she finished as she turned to Riku.
Turning to the clerk, Riku said, "Thanks for your time."
"No problem," said the clerk back, still trying to wrap his head around the idea of a talking horse.  With that, Riku and Rainbow Dash left the company of the weapon shop and proceeded through the small square to the stairs leading to the main part of town.
"Let's keep going," said Riku as the two approached the first stair.
"But where are we going exactly?" asked Rainbow shooting him a quizzical look.
"No where in particular," responded Riku, lightly chuckling to himself.  "If we're going to do some investigating, it'd be best to talk to as many people as possible."
"Well, we've still got the square that we haven't 'investigated'.  We only talked to the weapon shop and we didn't even buy anything."
"True.  It's your call though.  We can either talk with some of the others here and get some information about what's changed, or we can see for ourselves how the world's been holding up."
"I like the hooves on approach myself," said Rainbow enthusiastically, summoning her keyblade and shouldering it.
"Same here," said Riku smiling back to her.  Together, they strode off down the steps and made their way deeper into the city.
As they moved through the city, all seemed to be normal.  There were no signs of trouble, and there were few houses that were in bad condition.  When they found themselves in the Bailey is when things went from okay to troublesome.  As they looked at the complete destruction of the stone walls that seemed like they had been impenetrable, their expressions hardened.
"Did the heartless do this?" asked Rainbow Dash with a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"I don't know," said Riku as he stared at the destruction.  "But whatever's beyond this area, it might be dangerous."
"Then let's go and stop it," said Rainbow Dash, flaring her wings readying her keyblade.  "Whatever caused this destruction might still be loose, and we can't risk it rampaging through the city."
"I don't know," said Riku, bending down to examine the concrete.  "It looks like this is pretty old," he said as he drug a finger across a few cracks in the floor.  "An earthquake could have done this."  He stood back up and crossed his arms in thought.  "Maybe we should ask around a bit more and see if anyone knows what happened."
"I guess," said Rainbow Dash nervously.  "Are you sure we shouldn't look around here first?  If something did attack, then we should see if we can find it."
"I agree," said Riku.  "However, not only will it take less time if we ask around town, but if something does attack and move toward town, then we'll be ready to stop it before it can do any real damage."
"Whatever you say," she finally answered, relaxing and dismissing her keyblade despite her unease.  The two then left the Bailey, moving back into town to do some good old fashioned recon.
They started knocking on random doors, hoping that anyone could clue them in on what had happened during the past few years.  Nearly every house turned them away, saying that they had just recently moved to the town either from other worlds or just to the town itself from other areas in the world itself.
Nearly every house.
When they knocked on their last door, feeling ready to give up on gathering any information whatsoever, a man opened the door wearing a light blue cloak, a white hat, and sporting a long, white beard.  "Why hello their young lad," he spoke to Riku in a mildly cheery tone.  "What can I do for you today?"
Riku skipped straight to the point.  "What can you tell us about the Bailey?  Why is it in such bad shape?"
"Us?" asked the man, looking around to see if he'd missed anyone when adressing Riku.  All he saw was the boy and a pegasus.  "But you're alone."
"I'm standing right here," said Rainbow Dash mater-of-factly as she shot a look of annoyance at the man.
Riku guessed the man in the door might freak out at seeing a talking pony, much like Aladin or the weapon shop clerk from before.  But instead, the man just nodded his head and said with a smile, "Right!  Terribly sorry for the confusion.  Now, you inquired about the condition of the Bailey?"
"Um, yeah," said Riku, slightly puzzled at the man's reaction.  "What happened to it?"
"The heartless happened," said the man.  Riku and Rainbow Dash's expressions hardened as they became more serious.  "Come in and I'll explain more to you."  The man  opened his door wider and invited them in.  Rainbow Dash shot Riku a questioning look which he returned with a nod, signifying that it seemed safe enough.
"Thank you," said Riku as he and Rainbow Dash walked by the man and into his house.  It was fairly messy with books and papers strewn about all over the place.  The walls mostly held bookshelves which contained rather hefty tomes that could probably kill a cat if they were dropped on one.  In the back was a computer with a large monitor and keyboard, and on a white podium facing the wall sat a brown book with a faint green glow to it.  There was a picture on the cover, but the details couldn't be seen from the door.
The man led them into the center of the room as both Riku and Rainbow Dash took care not to step on any of the books or papers littering the floor.  He then snapped his fingers and a table with what looked like a pot of steaming tea appeared on a raised platform.  The man snapped his fingers once more, conjuring up three cushions around the short table and placed two next to each other and the last on the opposite side of the table.
While Rainbow Dash and Riku looked on in wonder at the man's magic, he took a seat on the single pillow at the table and invited them up to the platforms.  "Please, make yourselves comfortable," he said he levitated the tea pot and poured himself a cup.  As Riku and Rainbow Dash took their seats, he filled two more cups and slid them along the table to rest in front of his guests.
"Merlin the Wizard, at your service," said the man.
"This is Rainbow Dash, and I'm Riku."
"Riku?" said Merlin.  "Then you must Sora's friend."
"How did you know?" asked Riku, mildly surprised.
"He came here on his journey to stop Organization XIII.  I supplied him with magic and a chance to visit some of his old friends."
"Why'd he come back here though?" mumbled Riku as he thought.
"What was that?" asked Merlin.
"Oh, nothing.  Just thinking out loud," said Riku back.  "So, what can you tell us about the heartless that attacked?"
"During one of Sora's visits, The Organization and Maleficent made their move.  Unbeknownst to the other, they both launched an attack on this world simultaneously, resulting in a rather large battle.  Ultimately, the heartless were defeated by Sora and the Nobodies retreated.  I'm still not sure why.  If they had really wanted this world, they could have taken it.  We were heavily outnumbered and even Sora and the King wouldn't have been able to beat them after fighting the heartless."
"Anyway, during the attack, the Bailey and it's surrounding area were badly damaged, but thankfully none of the heartless got into town.  With Cid and I here to fend them off, not a single one of the buggers got through," finished Merlin.  
"Are there still a lot of heartless?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"No, most of them have gone.  The world is fairly peaceful currently."
"Don't count on it," said Riku.  He then relayed the events that had taken place in the dark realm and the battle with Xehanort.  "So they're likely following us," he finished
"I'll let the others know," said Merlin, worry now plaguing his voice.  "They're in Traverse Town right now, dealing with problems of their own.  It seems that a very large number of heartless have appeared there, and they went to deal with it to my knowledge."
Rainbow Dash looked over to Riku.  "Maybe that's where Twilight and the others are," she said.
"That makes sense," said Riku as he thought about it.  "If we're being tracked by the heartless, then Sora must've stopped there at least once.  Maybe we should go check it out.  It looks like you've got things covered here for now, Merlin," finished Riku as he turned to the wizard.  "Thank you for the information."
"My door is always open," he said as they all stood up and proceeded to the door.  As they were leaving Merlin added, "If the heartless strike here in force, be expecting a message from me."
"We'll be ready," said Rainbow Dash as Merlin began to shut the door.
When it closed, Riku turned to Rainbow and asked, "Are you ready to go?"
"Definitely," said Rainbow Dash, almost looking relieved to be traveling again.  It seemed that the time spent doing reconnaissance had taken its tole on the impatient mare.
Together, the two donned their armor, summoned their vehicles, and rode off into space, eager to reunite with their friends.