"This is it," Sora announced proudly. "Our work here is finally done!"
"Now we can travel together to see other worlds," Riku declared.
"In the way we intended to," Kairi added.
The three friends were stood together on the shore of the small island. Broad grins were on their faces as they observed what stood before them.
Towering over them with the waves of the sea lapping around it was their raft.
They had finally completed their work on constructing it at last. It had taken them so long to finish it – especially after their long journey where their goals to see other worlds came sooner than expected.
Upon finally coming home, they had not intended to stay very long; instead, they set out to finish what they had started – and had finally achieved their goal.
The teenagers glanced at one another, all smiling knowingly as they realised they were sharing the same thought.
"It's time, guys," Riku said softly. "Let's climb aboard and see where this beauty brings us to…"
"You asked before how far a raft can take us," Kairi reminded Sora. "It's time for us to find out…"
"Don't forget..." The spiky-haired boy grinned. "I'm the captain, remember, Riku!"
"You watched it!" Riku groaned, having hoped the brunette had forgotten what he had just told him. "Keep going on about being captain, Sora, and there might just be mutiny against you!"
The trio stood onboard the raft, taking oars in their hands in preparation to set off across the sea.
"You ready, guys?" Riku asked.
"Cast off!" Sora shouted. "Set sail!"
Using the oars, the friends pushed the raft through the crystal clear water, causing it to carry them away from the shore. Excitement filled their faces as they jubilantly rowed away from the islands. Leaving their home behind, they sailed off towards where the sun was setting over the horizon, painting the sky in a deep shade of orange which was reflected in the sea.
"We're on our way, guys!" Sora announced grandly. "We're finally going on our journey to other worlds. I know we've already done that now, but this time we're following our own path with no Heartless to fight or any corruption to foil-"
"Sora, look out!"
Kairi's alarmed squeal cut off Sora's speech as his eyes widened at the sight of what she was warning him of.
A huge wave was coming towards their rat – threatening to toss it over with them on board.
"Turn back!" Sora cried urgently. "Turn back!"
The teenagers quickly started to paddle their oars in the opposite direction, trying to escape the large flow of water charging straight towards them.
Although they managed to bring it to a stop, the raft barely had time to start moving back in the direction of the islands – when it was picked up by the wave.
"Whoa!" Sora cried as he found himself and his friends being lifted up on their invention by the fierce, giant wake. "Hold on!"
Riku hollered in alarm as Kairi let off a startled squeak over what was happening. The three friends braced themselves as they held securely onto each other…
…just as the wave turned over the raft, throwing the friends into the deep water as it capsized.
After the air was filled by a great big splash, the waved crashed onto the shore of the small island. It lapped onto the sand before sinking back into the sea.
For the moment, all was eerily quiet – with no trace of the three youths who had fallen into the salty depths…
The silence only lasted a few seconds, however, as three figures burst through the surface. Riku wiped his saturated bangs that stuck to his face out of his eyes while Sora held Kairi with his arms wrapped protectively around her. The trio coughed and spluttered their bodies, hair and clothes all dripping wet from falling into the water they were floating in.
"Are you guys alright?" Riku asked his friends.
After making sure the girl in his arms was okay, Sora lifted his gaze from Kairi to send a dismayed one to Riku. "It's sunk! I can't believe our raft has completely sunk!"
Riku sighed with a shake of his head. "I knew you should have let me take charge, Sora! A responsible captain always watches where his ship is going!"
"What are we gonna do now?" Kairi asked. "We can't go sailing to other worlds without a raft!"
Sora smiled weakily. "I supposed we could swim," he suggested unhelpfully.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Riku scoffed. "Swim? All the way across the ocean?"
"It'd be good excerise - or we could always use our own boats! You know, the ones we use to get from the main island to the smaller one-"
"Wait! What?!" Riku's aqua eyes widened as he stared in Sora in bewilderment over what he'd just brought up. "Say that again, Sora!"
"That again, Sora," Sora said innocently.
Kairi giggled.
"No, silly half-pint!" Riku facepalmed. "What did you say about the boats?"
"Oh, you mean our boats? I know! They're great, aren't they? They've always gotten us to the island and back without fail! I'll bet they'd get us across the ocean to other worlds without capsizing-"
"So you're telling me," Riku interrupted loudly, "that we've spent so mich time building a raft to sail away from the islands - when we have our own boats?"
"Yeah..." Sora averted his gaze from Riku to Kairi, surprised to see she was looking as baffled as the older boy. "What's wrong with that?"
It was only at that moment when the brunette's smile disappeared, realising what he'd indirectly pointed out.
The trio shared an irate groan, all equally annoyed they'd only now realised how their building of the raft had been completely, utterly pointless.