High above the ground of Naruto's home, even higher than the sky itself, a small red ship cruised by the village, several thousands of kilometers away. Far away enough to not be sucked into the orbit of the world, and close enough that one could see five large villages with different elemental symbols. The ship was at the right position to be able to distinguish it from the many other worlds that occupied the Other Sky.
Inside the ship was a team of three sitting in the only available seats. The interior was a sea green color with many windows surrounding them to reveal the beauty of space. Many shiny buttons that shined countless colors highlighted the space in front of the pilot's seat.
That seat was occupied by a duck who went by the name of Donald. He wore a crisp blue jacket and hat with many zippers. His expertise was magic and keeping a cap on his short fuse. Regardless of his horrid temper, it did not stop Donald from becoming the Royal Magician under the rule of King Mickey and Queen Minnie Mouse.
He was equipped with magic skills that came short below only a few other magic users; the greats and professionals like Merlin the Wizard. Silver bangles bounced up and down from his wrists as he guided the ship pass large hunks of gummi blocks. On the left of him, on the armrest was a rather well-dressed cricket who went by the name of Jiminy Cricket. He was to document and jot down notes and stories of whatever happened on their journey under the orders of Queen Minnie. Between them both, it was a conversation of soft mumbling and inquiring about the notes Jiminy had made about the last world they've been to.
After reconciling in Deep Jungle, they had found a strange gummi that fit well with another similar looking gummi they had found in Wonderland. They returned to Traverse Town briefly to ask Cid about it only to have the man explain that together, they formed a Navigation gummi. Navigation gummis use the energy radiated by a world's heart to hone in and create decipherable pathways to them. This meant that, once installed, they could travel further to other worlds without worry of getting lost and wasting gas.
However, modifications to the royal gummi ship had to be physically approved by the king or queen. That's why Donald was flying the ship back to Disney Castle to retrieve the signed slip Queen Minnie had prepared once learning the situation via radio.
Behind him on his right, a dog dressed in the bold colors of a green sweater under a sleeveless black zipper jacket, golden pants, and a rather goofy looking hat on his head. He had busied himself with working on a crossword as they waited to approach the next world. He kept to his namesake, Goofy, with his wonky walking style and arbitrary techniques of fighting and solving problems. However, considering that 9 out of 10 times, his plans worked, he had easily ascended the ladder to be the Captain of King Mickey's Royal Guard.
The last, a young boy with incredibly messy caramel hair had been occupying himself with watching the gummi blocks go by and looking at the distant lights of worlds they had yet to arrive at. He wore a bright red jumpsuit under a short-sleeved white and black-trimmed jacket. When his blue eyes spotted the world, they were filled with wonder and amazement. He was quick to point it out.
"Hey look, a new world!" At the exclamation, Donald brought the ship to a halt. He looked a bit peeved at Sora for shouting, but his irritation was forgotten as he saw the world for himself.
Goofy turned his head to look over Sora's shoulder. "Hum… it don't look very famil'ar. I don't think it was there the last time we came by." He turned to Donald. "Any idea what'sits called?"
"Chip? Dale?" Donald called out the two navigators' names. Two chipmunks wearing aprons that proudly showed off the King's insignia known as the 'Hidden Mickey' popped onto the screen next to the steering wheel with a hand to their head in a salute. Sora and Goofy waved enthusiastically at them which made Donald roll his eyes good-naturedly at them. Turning to the two chipmunks, he asked, "What can you tell us about that world?"
The engineers quickly moved about on their side of the screen as they gathered data from the readings Donald got from a brief scan over the world. After a moment, they reappeared on the screen, ready to report their findings.
"Well, we haven't been able to find a name in the world library. It's quite reclusive even with the broken walls and pathways between the worlds. Based on its readings, it has a strong cloak of energy around it that blocked off most of the scan so we couldn't get much out of that. Not much else is known but there is this interesting tidbit-"
"We haven't found a single trail of Heartless anywhere!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy recoiled in shock at the statement.
"What? Not a single Heartless?" Donald gawked.
"Not even an antenna!" Dale retorted, sounding just as surprised at the revelation as everyone else. After a moment, Sora's expression relaxed into a thoughtful face.
"Do you guys think that cloak thing is what's keeping them away?"
Chip shrugged. "It's hard to tell since this is our first encounter, but it very well could be. It did block our scan. It very well could be blocking the Heartless from the world, too."
All five of them sat in marvel at a world that had its own self-defense against darkness made real. Something special had to be going on in that world for such a thing to even exist. Donald and Goofy wondered if it was anything like the defense they had at home, while Sora wondered just what that cloak of energy could possibly be. Curious, Sora placed a hand over the window, looking at the world once more. Honestly, from this view it didn't look like anything special, and yet…
"… Even if there's no Heartless, it still has a Keyhole right?"
Goofy turned to him, a little confused by the statement. "Well yeah. Ev'ry world hasa keyhole."
"Then, shouldn't we check it out at least?" Sora asked. Then, he winced involuntarily as he remembered their altercation before crash landing in Deep Jungle and backtracked. "I mean, even if the King or Riku or Kairi aren't there, it's still in danger of being lost to the Heartless if whatever is keeping them away stops working."
"Yeah. And Aerith asked us to seal the keyholes, too." Goofy said with excitement as he just remembered the conversation they had with their friends in Traverse Town. Sora nodded enthusiastically with him while Donald looked on unimpressed.
Watching his companions converse excitedly about the new world, the wizard felt that they were forgetting one crucial detail.
"But what about the Queen and her signature? We've already promised we'd be there tomorrow at the latest!"
Sora froze and then frowned. "We can't just tell her the situation and get an extension?"
When Donald visibly twitched, Sora knew that he had said the wrong thing. Right before the duck could open his mouth, Goofy, thankfully, stepped in to calmly explain. "We can try but we might lose time."
Donald heaved a sigh, exhaling his earlier irritation in the process, "Goofy's right. We need to find the King quickly before any more worlds are lost. Getting that signature is the number one priority at the moment."
The Keyblade Wielder nodded, understanding their point. However—he looked back at the world as Donald prepared for them to go airborne once more. Sora couldn't let them pass this world by.
He could remember how terrified he was when his world was swallowed by the darkness. Shadows appeared wherever he stepped and his mere wooden sword didn't deter them in the slightest. Sora remembered those glowing yellow eyes staring at him with claws poised for attack. He remembered their sting, and how until he received the Keyblade and its protection from the Heartless' darkness, they had crippled whatever limb they had scratched.
If he had just known that he could've stopped it all by sealing away the Keyhole to his world, then maybe…
"WAIT!"
Donald and Goofy nearly fell out of their chairs from Sora's sudden exclamation. Donald was about to turn and demand why Sora suddenly yelled, but Sora beat him to it. "What if I go down there by myself while you guys get the signature?"
The two froze.
Donald felt conflicted. He was a strict follower of what his best friend had told him. "Follow the Keyblade Master" the message had said, and by doing so, he'd find King Mickey and, perhaps, a solution to the Heartless situation. His and Goofy's initial idea was to use Sora to find the King, fervently ignoring whatever plans the boy had himself in the process. To him, finding the King was more important than any of that.
However, come Deep Jungle, Donald had finally realized that Sora had his own agenda and his own personal morals. He abides by none of the rules stated to him, choosing rather to follow what he thought was best in his heart. Before, such an attitude had been Donald's bane. But now, he was starting to think that it wasn't such a bad thing. After all, if Sora wasn't with them, Alice from Wonderland could have ended up with her head chopped off.
And Donald and Goofy would have done nothing. They would've reproachfully walked away, determined to let the "world's order" take care of the issue.
Donald supposed that whatever made Sora so hung up about this world was another one of those hunches that had helped them find the other part of the Navigation Gummi in Deep Jungle and come to Alice's aid in Wonderland. Even if it wasn't something that would directly or obviously benefit their search, it would still be something Sora would put his best towards. In return, Donald saw no reason why he shouldn't put his own best foot forward.
"… Alright." Ignoring the bewildered stare from Goofy and Sora, Donald continued on. "It shouldn't take us long for us to get our home world and come back here for you."
There was a stunned silence between them. Out of them all, Donald was by far the most stubborn of them all, so for him to consent so easily was mind boggling. All the same, Sora couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face before he began nodding wildly. "Right! I got it. Then, we can head back to Traverse Town so Cid can get the gummi installed."
His grin grew upon Donald's agreeing nod.
Goofy looked between his two friends. He wondered if there was some sort of non-verbal compromise that was happening underneath this agreement after their last argument. The soldier inwardly shook his head and put on a large smile. He had felt bad for the way they pushed aside what Sora wanted for the sake of finding the King when they had promised to help him find his friends. Now that they had reconciled, he had felt that their friendship had shifted to something more trustworthy and reliable than one of convenience and lies.
Not wanting to be left out, he barked out, "It shouldn't take us long to come back. 'Bout two or three days at the most." He turned to Donald for confirmation.
The duck nodded. "Three days is the best bet."
Sora's head bobbed up and down excitedly and he got out of his chair to walk to the deport pit that was behind the cockpit He took a quick moment to grab some items and munny for the trip from the storage compartment. His friends watched him, Goofy with a fond smile and Donald trying in vain to hide his concern.
"Now, you be careful! Just because the Heartless seem to be keeping away from this world doesn't mean that you shouldn't be on your guard. Who knows what you'll find! Try to find the keyhole and maybe even how they're repelling the Heartless. Jiminy will be with you to document everything, just in case." At this, Jiminy jumped onto Sora's shoulder.
Sora and him were able to exchange a small smile between them before he disappeared into Sora's hood for safety. Donald gave him a once-over to check that he was ready. Satisfied, he turned back around in his seat and pressed several buttons. "I'm sending you down now."
A white sphere started to form around him starting from his waist and forming down and up to his feet and head respectively. It was the safest way to send someone down if the ship wasn't going to land on the world itself.
"Good luck Sora, Jiminy!" Donald cried over his shoulder.
"Bye-bye, we'll miss ya lots~!" Goofy said, waving at Sora.
Grinning softly at the kind farewells, Sora wasted no time in replying just as the sphere was completed. "Bye, Goofy! Donald!"
With one press of the button, Sora was sent down into the Reign of the Ninja.
