The bottle shook in Sora's hand. How? How? Tears began to stream down his face. "No," he gulped, "No, no, no. No!"
"But how? I don't understand." Riku said to himself. The warm breeze of Destiny Island, which had seemed welcoming just a week ago, now felt humid and whistled dangerously through the verdant palms. "Who could of done this?"
"It has to be a trick," Kairi said, reading the letter from King Mickey for the fifth time. "It can't be real."
"King Mickey would not write something like this to joke," Namine said inside her other half. Kairi nodded, knowing that Namine was right.
"We have to go! Now!" Sora shouted in anger.
"Settle down, Sora, we should make a plan," Riku cautioned, his silver hair bobbing in the sticky wind.
"There's no time for plans!" Sora bellowed, as the blue waves smashed against the shore of Destiny Island. "Who knows what's going on there right now!" Roxas tried to calm Sora from inside, but Sora ignored him.
Kairi sat down on the warm sand and began to draw nervously with her finger. "Sora, there's no way to get their. You could swim across this entire ocean and you wouldn't be any closer. We're on a different world."
"And since I don't see a Gummi Ship coming to the rescue any time soon," Riku continued, "We're going to have to be patient."
Sora growled in frustration, starting to sob. "We won!" he cried, kicking the sand with his bare feet. "We won! It took us years! But we won! How did this happen!"
The message in the bottle sat on the ground, the yellow parchment bearing the news that was so upsetting. In hastily written cursive, a cry for help was written:
Sora, Kairi, Riku, Namine, and Roxas:
Urgent news. Mickey's castle has been burned to the ground. Nobody in sight. I am remaining hidden and sending this message with a little of Mickey's leftover magic. Help is needed immediately. It is possible I am the only survivor. Please come as soon as possible, though it might already be too late.
Your friend,
Jiminy Cricket
"They didn't kill King Mickey," Riku insisted. "No way. Nobody can beat Mickey."
"I wish we could help, but there is no way to get there, so I'm afraid Jiminy is on his own for now," Roxas said to Sora.
"I might be of some assistance here," A voice came from behind them. Three heads and five souls whipped around, and stared at the figure sitting lazily in one of the palm trees. "I can take you where you need to go."
"Master, how did you get here?" Sora wiped a tear from his cheek.
"It is of little importance," Yen Sid muttered, adjusting his sorcerer's hat. "We should get going. I'll give you a little time to pack up anything and say to goodbye to the island. I am aware that you have not been off for very long, but in the current situations, I cannot promise you that you will see these islands for a long time."
"We're ready now," Sora insisted. Riku and Kairi nodded enthusiastically.
"Very well," Yen Sid nodded. "Let us be on our way." With a wave of him staff, the three began to spin very rapidly. The blue sky, ocean, sand and trees began to blur into one color, until with a bright flash, they vanished from Destiny Island for their final, and darkest adventure.