SPOILER WARNING, Aqua/The Seven Lights Discussion

[KeyToDestiny]

It makes more sense than Mickey grinning like he just won the jackpot in the lottery despite Riku and him returning from getting their asses handed to them by a Xehanort-empowered Aqua.

One has to remember that Mickey, feeling guilty about not being able to save the TAV trio from their grim fates already in BBS itself, was about to hand Yen Sid the Star Seeker Keyblade in the BBS credits and quit being a Keyblade Wielder altogether.

In DDD Mickey too expresses again his regret at not being able to save Aqua, Terra and Ventus, getting increasingly upset when Xehanort proceeds to add insult to injury and openly mock his victims to his face,

If he really has to witness now the suffering going even deeper by Aqua ending up in Xehanort's grasp (and likely dooming Ventus by proxy as well) he would certainly not march into Yen Sid's tower with a big smile plastered over his visage.

Well one has to remember that Mickey's model for KH3 have hardly shown emotion or anything resembling character. Like a doll. When he was being held down by Dark Aqua and when he said his comment on Aqua, he hardly expressed facial emotion. I still think they're trying to work out his model a bit. Also when Riku held his broken keyblade, Mickey was smiling there too.

Overall we're missing context in those scenes but to me it makes no sense for them to drop Kairi off, get changed then return back to Yen Sid's for some reason despite having their mission debriefed to them while Kairi was with them.

It makes far more sense to me that they dropped Kairi off, got changed, found a way into the RoD and began searching for Aqua, some stuff happen, they meet Aqua or some dark Aqua. Dark Aqua attacks them, some stuff happened later, Riku's keyblade is broken for some reason(possibly due to fighting dark Aqua or something else), he leaves his keyblade behind, Riku and Mickey leave RoD without Aqua apparently and return to Yen Sid while meeting with Sora, Donald and Goofy again who had just returned from Olympus most likely due to Sora still being in his KH2 outfit.

 

[Alja]

Well one has to remember that Mickey's model for KH3 have hardly shown emotion or anything resembling character. Like a doll. When he was being held down by Dark Aqua and when he said his comment on Aqua, he hardly expressed facial emotion. I still think they're trying to work out his model a bit. Also when Riku held his broken keyblade, Mickey was smiling there too.

Overall we're missing context in those scenes but to me it makes no sense for them to drop Kairi off, get changed then return back to Yen Sid's for some reason despite having their mission debriefed to them while Kairi was with them.

It makes far more sense to me that they dropped Kairi off, got changed, found a way into the RoD and began searching for Aqua, some stuff happen, they meet Aqua or some dark Aqua. Dark Aqua attacks them, some stuff happened later, Riku's keyblade is broken for some reason(possibly due to fighting dark Aqua or something else), he leaves his keyblade behind, Riku and Mickey leave RoD without Aqua apparently and return to Yen Sid while meeting with Sora, Donald and Goofy again who had just returned from Olympus most likely due to Sora still being in his KH2 outfit.

Yes, his model, but would it make sense to use his model in such a scene? They could have just animated him in a cutscene and given him a grim appearance.
Also, personally it makes even less sense to me that they had time to find Aqua (the RoD is huge after all), fight her and find a way back to the RoL in the short amount of time Sora takes to finish Olympus. Considering how Aqua and Ansem searched for a way out for literal years and even Mickey seemed to have searched for a way out in CoM for quite a while, this would only add injury to it. If it's so easy to find Aqua, they could have done so in any game in no time. They need to search for her at least for one third of the game for it to feel somewhat realistic, in my opinion.

 

[KeyToDestiny]

Yes, his model, but would it make sense to use his model in such a scene? They could have just animated him in a cutscene and given him a grim appearance.
Also, personally it makes even less sense to me that they had time to find Aqua (the RoD is huge after all), fight her and find a way back to the RoL in the short amount of time Sora takes to finish Olympus. Considering how Aqua and Ansem searched for a way out for literal years and even Mickey seemed to have searched for a way out in CoM for quite a while, this would only add injury to it. If it's so easy to find Aqua, they could have done so in any game in no time. They need to search for her at least for one third of the game for it to feel somewhat realistic, in my opinion.

Do we literally know the in game time for those events yet? It could have been days for all we know.

 

[Alja]

Of course we don't know, but considering how Ansem and Aqua searched for a way out for years and decades, taking a few days to find her seems oddly short unless they have something to help them find her. And if finding her took only a few days, Mickey could have easily done so while Sora and Riku went for their Mark of Mastery Exam. I'm not saying it's impossible that it is the case, but if it is, it's damn bad writing.

 

[Nayru's Love]

Also, personally it makes even less sense to me that they had time to find Aqua (the RoD is huge after all), fight her and find a way back to the RoL in the short amount of time Sora takes to finish Olympus.

Time actually moves much slower in the RoD, hence why Aqua hasn't really aged from BBS to KH2; a decade in the RoL may have just been a few months at most from Aqua's perspective. So, it's within reason for a lot to happen during Riku's and Mickey's visit.

 

[Axel92]

I think it must be some form of Xehanort interacting because he/she recognized (possibly) Yen Sid's Keyblade (hinting at Eraqus, Xeha and Yen be trainers under the same Master).