Ven and Y walked into the strange town, looking around in wonder. It was a bright cheery town. Y didn't see anything remotely like an Unversed within sight. There weren't any people either. The town just seemed empty. But not a sad kind of empty, if that made any sense. Y didn't really understand it herself, but that was all she could think of to describe the town.

Very suddenly a large humanoid cat- uh, maybe- jumped in front of Ven and Y. Y stopped suddenly and gripped Ven's arm in surprise.

"Tada! Wearin' the mask of peace and hope comes the fearless defender and hero of this town! It is me-- Captain Justice!" The cat thing said. Y looked to Ven out of the corner of her eye. If this was the town's hero she was very worried about the town overall.

"Huh? Umm...." Ven said, turning to look at Y. Y shrugged in response to the look.

"Young couple! Do my hero-senses detect that you got troubles? Just say the word, and Captain Justice will make all your problems disappear!" Captain Justice said. Y felt her face flush as she looked down to the ground.

"We're not a couple! We're just friends!" Y objected. Ven laughed nervously and nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, we're just trying to make some friends--" He said. He trailed off looking at Y, who still wasn't looking at him. "Never mind, forget it."

"Don't be intimidated by my magnificence. Go on and spit it out." Captain Justice said. Y turned a cold glare towards him. Oddly enough he wasn't affected like others normally would be. "Then, remember to vote Captain J." He added.

"Vote?" Ven asked, tipping his head to the side.

"Oh! Well, uh, forget that. How can I help? That's the only reason I'm here." Captain Justice said. Y frowned and crossed her arms.

"A likely story." Y said in disbelief. Ven nudged her side gently.

"Tell us about your town. Everything's so festive. Is it always like this?" Ven asked. Y smiled softly at him. Trust Ven to come up with something like that. This cat thing was clearly trouble, but Ven was still humoring him. 

"Huh? That's it-- nothin' else?" Captain Justice asked. Ven nodded. "Well, the festivities are on account of the Dream Festival-- which is why I've made sure there's carnival stuff all over town." He continued. Y frowned glancing around. She didn't see any carnival type things. Her homeworld held a festival yearly, and then the city was filled to the brim with attractions. 

"Really? Like what?" Ven asked excitedly.

"Ho ho, you gotta see it for yourself. Wouldn't be much of a dream if I just told ya." Captain Justice answered. Ven nodded again.

"Right. Thanks." He said.

"Don't you kids go forgettin', Captain Justice is the one who solved all your problems. That would be Justice with a J." Captain Justice said. Y rolled her eyes.

"No, I thought it was spelled with a G." Y said sarcastically. Ven nudged her again.

"Sure, we got it, Captain Justice," Ven said. The cat ran off seconds later, hearing a duck child complain about something or another.

"He was totally making most of that up." Y said the moment Captain Justice was gone. She looked at Ven calmly. He nodded putting his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, probably. But hey, it's a festival. That could be fun." Ven said, smiling brightly. Y couldn't help but smile in return. Ven's lightheartedness was almost contagious. But Y supposed that was a good thing. Things would be a lot harder if they were constantly worrying. 

Y wondered how much of that lightheartedness was just a front.

Y and Ven wandered into the next portion of the town, the same direction Captain Justice had run off in. They didn't see very many townsfolk yet again. But those they did see were basically animals that acted human. Y wasn't sure what was going on here, but she was reminded of the Mouse she and Aqua had met in Radiant Garden.

"I wonder if this is where Mickey came from." Ven said suddenly. Y blinked in surprise and looked at him curiously.

"Mickey?" She asked. That had been the name of the mouse that had helped them. It would have been odd for them to have both met this mouse. Y was suddenly very curious about the mouse. 

"He helped me out when X and the masked boy attacked me." Ven said. Y nodded slowly, biting her lip without thinking about it. Any mention of her brother and that masked boy worried her. She wasn't sure which worried her more. Her brother who had changed far too much for it to be normal, or the masked boy who told her her friends would die. "Are you ok?" Ven asked, seeing Y's turmoil.

"Fine, I'm just really worried. The masked boy, he said a lot of strange things whenever I've seen him." Y said. Ven looked at her curiously.

"What sort of things?" He asked. Y shrugged.

"Stuff about my light dying and fading away," Y whispered, hoping Ven wouldn't be able to hear her. "And, stuff about you guys dying." She added. Ven looked at her surprised.

"He said kinda similar stuff to me. Stuff about Terra changing." Ven said. "But it doesn't matter, because your light isn't going to fade. It burns too bright for that. Even the Master said so." He continued. Y nodded slowly. Master Eraqus had always said she had a strong light, even when compared to her fellow pupils. But that didn't mean it couldn't burn itself out.

"He's human under his mask." Y said suddenly. Ven looked at her surprised. He didn't know why she would bring that up. "I broke it during a fight. He looks just like anyone else. I wonder if that's why X trusts him."

"But X doesn't. They looked like they had been having a huge fight when I saw them. X was hurt badly." Ven said in confusion. Y laughed softly and shook her head. She knew it would be confusing to anyone else. No one knew her brother like her. No one else saw his tells.

"He was acting. He trusts that boy. He's on his side." Y said, frowning. "I wonder if he thinks he needs salvation too." She whispered. Ven tilted his head to the side yet again.

"What was that?" Ven asked. Y quickly shook her head.

"Nothing. Let's just check out this festival." She said, smiling and taking hold of Ven's arm. Ven smiled back at her, despite knowing she was just smiling to keep from becoming any sadder. There was only so much Y could take in a day.

The pair found themselves in the company of three duck children, Captain Justice, and a mouse dressed as a queen. They were gathered around a machine of some kind. Y guessed from the decor it was an ice cream machine. It was either broken, or no one knew how to work it.

"Well, if it ain't the last kids Captain Justice saved. 'Fraid you'll have to get in line. I'm working on another catastrophe here for these fellas-- Huey, Dewey, and Louie, my good friends." Captain Justice said upon seeing Ven and Y. Y only rolled her eyes.

"Now, I'd hardly call it a catastrophe." The queen mouse said.

"Yeah, all we were tryin' to do was make our own special recipe ice cream." The duck in red said. Y was just going to guess his name was Huey since that was who Captain Justice had motioned to when he had said the name. But with Captain Justice's lack of concern Y suspected he could have very well messed it up.

"And we had a little trouble." The one in blue, Dewey Y hoped, said.

"Come on, it's not really that big a deal." The last one, Louie, said. Captain Justice just ignored them.

"I'm 100% positive, you're the victims of sabotage!" Captain Justice said. Y was saved objecting by the duck children around them.

"Not even close! Quit makin' stuff up." Dewey said.

"It's just the ice cream machine." Louie continued for his brother.

"Unca Scrooge left it for us, but we can't figure out how it works 'cause it's so complicated." Huey finished. 

"Aw, we're sorry, Queen Minnie. We wanted you to be the first to try our special recipe ice cream." Dewey said sadly. Y felt a strong urge to hug the poor child, but she fought it. Most didn't respond to her random bursts of affection well.

"Oh boys, it was very sweet of you to think of me." Minnie said kindly.

"We tried." Louie said in defeat.

"Say no more. Leave it to me-- one bowl of ice cream comin' right up!" Captain Justice said, stepping towards the machine.

"You're just gonna make a mess. Leave it alone, Pete!" Dewey snapped. Y didn't know for sure, but she suspected that was Captain Justice's real name. It seemed much more realistic.

"That's Captain Justice!" Pete snapped in reply and proceeded to try and fix the ice cream machine. Y decided that if it wasn't broken before, it was definitely broken now.

After several moments of failure, Pete gave up.

"This machine is busted. It just needs a good poundin'." Pete said as he hit the machine a few times.

"It does not!" Minnie said. Y jumped in surprise hearing her voice raise at all.

"Think we could take a look at it?" Ven asked stepping forward.

"No, if Captain Justice can't fix it, there ain't nothin' you kids can do." Pete replied before anyone else could. Ven shrugged.

"Maybe not, but there's no harm in trying," Ven said. Y smiled at his optimism. They could always break it worse. Not that that was likely.

"Yeah!" Huey agreed. "And better you than him. Here ya go. These are the directions for the machine." He said, handing them the directions. Y took the directions and skimmed over them. She paced around the machine and pressed a few buttons quickly bringing the machine to life.

A few minutes later Y and Ven had successfully used the machine to create the ice cream the three ducks had been trying to make.

"Mm, how yummy. What a wonderful treat! I don't think I've ever had such a delicious ice cream. Thank you--" Minnie began, but stopped realizing she didn't know Ven or Y's name.

"He's Ven, I'm Y." Y provided with a smile.

"Well, thank you, Ven, Y." Minnie said, returning Y's smile.

"Way to go!" Huey congratulated them.

"I see, we had to push this thingamajig the other way." Louie said looking at a button on the machine.

"Hey, I just got an idea! We could let our customers make up their own favorite flavors of ice cream!" Dewey said suddenly. Y liked that idea. it would be a lot of fun.

"Not with that machine!" Pete objected. "Well, the kids mighta got it to work this one time. But junk like that needs to get junked!" He continued. Y took a deep breath to keep herself calm. This guy was really starting to get on her nerves.

"Don't you dare, Pete!" Minnie said firmly.

"Fine. But Captain Justice will return!" Pete said before running off.

"I hope I never have to see him again." Y said to no one in particular. She heard several laughs, one of which belonging to Ven.

"About him, you said his name is Pete?" Ven asked, turning to Minnie. Minnie nodded.

"Yeah, he's the biggest troublemaker in town!" Huey said, answering for the queen.

"I bet he's just callin' himself, Captain Justice, 'cause he wants to win the Million Dreams Award." Dewey said. Y and Ven exchanged a confused look. Y shrugged, prompting Ven to turn back to the town's inhabitants.

"What's the Million Dreams Award?" Ven asked.

"That's one of the Dream Festival events," Minnie explained. "Everyone votes for who they think is the town's most exemplary citizen." She continued.

"Now the vote thing makes sense." Y said offhandedly. Ven nodded in agreement, not even looking at her.

"And if ya win the award, ya get a really cool prize!" Louie said excitedly.

"Oh, it's just a small token, nothing elaborate," Minnie said modestly. "The event is supposed to help us appreciate how much we all look out for each other every day. That's the spirit of the award." She continued, sounding almost disappointed. Y couldn't blame her with people like Pete around. 

"That sounds nice." Y said.

"Pete just wants to get his grubby hands on the prize," Huey said angrily.

"And he knows that nobody's gonna vote for him if he puts his own name on the ballot!" Dewey added.

"But nobody's fooled!" Louie said.

"Yeah!" His brothers agreed together. The three of them began laughing.

"Wish somebody was looking out for us," Ven said wistfully.

"Somebody is." Y said quickly, not thinking for a second. Someone had to be, right?