Three children were battling with toy swords and the girl panted. The silverette boy laughed.
"Come on! I thought you two were better than that!" He said cockily. Mai and Sora looked at each other and nodded. They charged at him and knocked him back together.
"We are!" They said together and both of their faces were full of determination.
~
Reality…
"Knock it off!" Donald yelled and Mai woke up. She instantly got up and stretched whilst yawning.
"Thanks for waking me up from my nap!" She whispered.
She walked up to her friends and Goofy asked, "Are you okay Princess?" She nodded at this with a smile on her face but realised that he called her Princess. She placed her index finger on her lips.
"Don't call me Princess. I don't think I'm ready yet." She said quietly.
"I don't think you'll ever be ready." Sora muttered and Mai shot him a glare and he earned a bruise from this.
"Anyway, what are you guys doing?" The Princess asked and her voice echoed. She started to look around. "Where are we?" Then out of nowhere a chest fell on her head. She rubbed her head and groaned with pain.
"Uh, y'know I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us." Goofy said and Mai's eyes widened.
"What? We're inside a whale?" She asked shocked.
"And for today's weather: expect showers." He added and another chest fell on Mai.
"Ouch!"
"Heavy showers!" Mai giggled at Goofy's comment.
"Hey, who's there?" Donald shouted and they saw Pinocchio's head pop out from behind a big chest.
"It's me!" Mai awww'ed at this; he was so adorable. Sora rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Oh it's just Pinocchio!" Donald said. "Pinocchio?!" He asked shocked.
"Pinocchio?" Jiminy asked from Sora's shoulder.
"Where are you going Pinocchio?" Mai asked gently and he walked off.
"Come on everybody, after him! Quick!" Jiminy said and they followed him to a big wooden ship. She peeked over and saw Pinocchio showing a Gummi Block to an old man.
"You mean this will get us home?" He asked
"It's true!" Mai said. "So, how did you end up here Pinocchio?" The red haired girl walked up to the adorable puppet boy.
"Oh my, so the whale swallowed all of you too? My goodness." An older man said and they nodded. "My name is Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father. When we got separated, I travelled all over for him. Thank goodness we're together again. So you seem to know Pinocchio quiet well." Geppetto picked something up.
"Yes, we met him in Traverse Town. And I want to say that he's such an adorable son you have." Mai said.
"Oh, yes. I hope he was a good boy in my absence."
"Why of course he has!" She smiled.
"Well, we've all had quite a journey. Right Pinocchio, Pinocchio?" They looked around and he wasn't there.
"He must be around." Goofy said.
"Or he must have walked off. Don't worry Mr Geppetto, we'll bring Pinocchio back." She declared and they went in search of the puppet boy. They walked into the first Chamber.
"What are you doing?!" Sora asked a bit harshly and Mai shot him warning glare. She turned to Pinocchio and smiled at him.
"Come on Pinocchio let's go back. We'll have a race once we get back, okay?" Sora pouted at this.
"Geppetto's awfully worried about you." Goofy pointed out.
"Come on Pinocchio! This isn't a time for games." Sora said and Mai turned to him.
"Sora Hikaru," he flinched as he heard his full name. Donald and Goofy thought, 'Oooooh, he's in trouble now!' and snickered at this. "He's just a little kid." When the brown haired boy was about to counter back they heard Riku's voice.
"But Sora, I thought you liked playing games? Or are you too cool to play with them now that you have that keyblade and you're hanging out with Mai? I bet you're tryin' to impress her with it!" Mai and Sora gasped as their eyes widened at who they were seeing- Kenji and Riku.
"Kenji? Riku?" Mai asked and Riku looked at the dark brunette.
"Heya, Mai!" He looked down, "Sorry about last time... Squall talked to me. I realized that was no way to introduce myself."
"Well, no duh!" Mai glared at him.
"Riku, w-what are you doing here?" The brown haired boy asked.
"Just playing with Pinocchio and Kenji. Hey Mai do you want to play as well?" She shook her head.
"Riku, he needs to get back to his father-" Mai was interrupted by Sora.
"What about Kairi, where is she? Did you find her?" She growled at this. The red haired girl was talking about Pinocchio but she didn't understand how Kairi came into the picture.
"Maybe. Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know." He said cockily.
"Oh come on!" Sora huffed and Riku took Pinocchio's hand and they ran off. Kenji watched him. "Mai, let's go!" She nodded and they started to run. Kenji stopped her.
"Mai, Maleficent's back!" He said, "She's the one who destroyed Leon's home... my home..."
"Yeah, Squall told me." She said and he looked at her.
"You knew?" She nodded at this and he sighed. She had to know about Riku sooner or later, "Be careful, Maleficent's after Riku... He's being controlled by her."
Mai gasped, "What!?"
"I'm come with him because I knew he was your friend." She looked at him strangely.
"How?"
"He talks about you... a lot! He gets jealous when you get near Sora."
"No way! He was trying to get me to be with him! There's no way..." She then stopped and realized if he was here with Riku, that would mean... "Why are you with Riku?"
"I knew it was a chance to save him from the darkness and a chance to get away from Maleficent! She... gave me the power to control the heartless." He honestly answered and she raised an eyebrow.
"I knew it! You are working for her!" She jumped back and summoned her keyblade.
"No! Not anymore!" He raised his hands in the air, "Why would I help someone who destroyed my home?"
She lowered her weapon and glared, "You better not be lying! If I find out you are, I'll rip your throat open!"
"O-okay." He flinched when he got a mental image. "What do I do?"
"Keep an eye on Riku for me." she said and ran forward with him following.
~
Riku…
"Why do you still care about that girl and the boy?" Maleficent asked. "The boy, your best friend has deserted you, as well as that insolent girl."
"That 'insolent girl' has a name you know!" He roared.
"Oh, why I'm sorry. It seems that you have a soft spot for her." He looked down at this.
"I don't care about him, I was just messing with his head a little to see what he does." Maleficent raised her eyebrows amused.
"Yes, I can see that clearly about the boy. But it seems that you're not doing anything to the girl." Riku placed a hand onto his heart. "Beware the darkness in your heart. The heartless prey upon it." Maleficent said and Riku gripped onto his shirt.
"Mind your business." He shouted out and the witch went through a portal of darkness. Riku stared at the ground and sighed. Kenji ran to his side.
"Was that Maleficent you were talking to?" He nodded at this. He growled under his breath.
"Pinocchio!" Mai shouted out and he went through to another chamber. She panted for air and just as Riku was going to ask if she was okay or not, Sora stole the words.
"Mai, you okay?" He asked and Riku was boiling with anger.
"Yeah!" She gave him the thumbs up and then noticed Riku. "Riku!"
"Mai." She smiled at him and sighed with relief to see that he's okay.
"What's the matter with you? What are you thinking?" Mai gasped at the tone Sora was using towards Riku and turned to him.
"Sora!" She shouted.
"Mai, just look at him. You can see it, something's changed. You're Pr-" Mai scowled at this and this stopped him from saying 'Princess.'
"What were you going to say?" Riku asked and she turned to him. Mai stared at the boy she loved as a brother and she felt something; this aura which didn't feel good at all.
"Don't you realize what you're doing?" Sora asked.
"I can be asking you the same thing, Sora! You only seem to be interested in running around, showing off that Keyblade and stealing other people's best friends. And I see how you're so interested in impressing other people." Mai's eyebrow twitched at this and looked at Kenji, who mouthed, 'This was that witch's fault'.
"Riku, Sora would never-" Mai asked and Riku was too busy arguing with Sora blinded with jealousy.
"Do you even want to save Kairi?" The red haired girl gasped at this; her friend would never ignore or interrupt her, but now he did.
"I do." Sora mumbled.
Then they heard Pinocchio shriek and she gasped. "Pinocchio!" She yelled and ran straight past Riku. He watched her and frowned slightly.
Kenji growled at the two, "Come on, you two! Are you going to argue or help me and Mai out?"
Sora and Riku looked at each other and ran after Kenji and Mai.
When she entered the chamber, she saw this heartless with tentacles and Pinocchio was trapped in a cage inside it.
"Let him go you freaky heartless!" She shouted and Riku smirked at this.
"You up for it M?" He asked and she smiled at him. Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hand. Her lovely green Keyblade appeared in her hand as well.
"Let's do this!" The dark brown haired boy said, pulling out his deul swords.
"You better watch out!" She warned the heartless. The four of them started to fight the heartless and it felt so right fighting together like a team. One of the heartless' tentacles slapped Mai and she skidded on the ground.
Riku ran up to her and pulled her back up. "You okay?" She hissed in pain as she touched her arm and it was burning red. His cyan eyes widened at this and he gently placed his hand on her arms and it felt so cool. She looked up into his eyes and for a moment they stared at each other. Slowly Riku was leaning towards each other until the noticed something.
"Look out!" She exclaimed and pulled him out the way. She blocked the heartless' tentacle with her keyblade and there was a flash. "Power of light!" Then there was another flash which seemed to blind the enemy. Sora and Kenji finished him off with a huge fire spell.
The heartless chucked Pinocchio into a black hole and Mai gasped at this. "No!" She screamed and Riku and Kenji into the hole. Mai followed them and dived into the hole as her friends followed her. They ended up where Geppetto was.
"Pinocchio, Pinocchio please give me back my son!" He begged and she couldn't believe it. Riku was kidnapping Pinocchio. Kenji jumped up to the platform Riku was on.
"Sorry old man, I have some unfinished business with this puppet." Riku said.
"He's no puppet, Pinocchio is my little boy."
"He is unusual, not many puppets have hearts." She shook her head, no this couldn't be happening. "I'm not sure. But maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."
Kenji gasped, "Do you mean Kairi?"
"Wait a minute, Kairi lost her heart?" Mai asked.
"Why would you care anyway? And, what do you think?" He said and everyone gasped. Kenji looked at Mai, who was shocked and looking like she would burst into tears. He was walking away.
"Wait!" He looked down at her and could see the tears falling down her cheeks. "Riku, you can't separate a child from their parent, they both…" She blinked and closed her eyes. The green eyed felt light headed. "…need…" She started seeing these flashbacks about a father kissing his baby daughter's head and leaving her as she cried. "…each…other." She fell back and Sora caught her. Riku's fist was trembling with jealousy and he turned around and left. Kenji worried about Mai but he still had to keep his promise to Mai and followed after Riku.
"Mai, open your eyes." She opened her eyes and stood up. Mai placed her hand onto her forehead. "You okay?"
"Yeah, but where's Riku and Kenji?" She asked curiously.
"They left." Her eyes were definitely open now.
"Then, what are we waiting for? We need to save Pinocchio. Come on!"