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II.) Unusual Transportation

"Well, I still say you're crazy."

Sora smirked, but didn't open his eyes. He was content to stay right where he was, sprawled on the sand of their little island outcropping, letting the sun warm his face. One simply couldn't appreciate the luxury of relaxation until it was ripped away from them – and, true to form, he'd spent the past two years catching up on what he'd missed.

Something kicked him in the head.

"Ow! Jeez, Kairi, what was that for?"

Massaging his head, he opened his eyes a fraction and squinted against the sun, only to find himself in shadow. Kairi stood slouched over, hands on knees, grinning impishly as she drank in the sight of him partaking of his favorite pastime. Her head completely blocked his view of the sun, which framed her with its golden halo; stray locks of her fox-red hair, which had grown considerably since their last adventure, dangled in long scarlet curtains. She swept it behind her ear without thinking.

"Ha! Still a lazy bum, I see. Did you hear a word I said?"

"About me being crazy for helping the King? Yeah."

"No, about you being crazy for helping the King without a second thought."

He blinked. She raised her eyebrows and straightened, hands on hips. "Come on, Sora, you can't pretend it's easy to just get up and go like this. Last time you vanished, people went crazy – they all thought you'd been swept out to sea in that big storm or something. And you had to have noticed how much the town changed while you were gone. And on top of that, you came this close to failing sophomore year because you just weren't there. Don't tell me summer school was fun."

Sora sat up, dusting himself off as best he could. True, it had been a pain to make up nine months' worth of work in less than three, but he'd had the teachers' sympathy – if not their complete trust, after his refusal to explain his and Riku's absence. He suspected they'd gone easy on him, unwilling to force a student to repeat a grade simply because they'd been kidnapped or lost at sea or whatever.

His friends had been more than willing to pitch in, too, once they'd gotten over the shock of finding him alive. After all, they were still his friends. But there was pity in their actions, too; it was obvious how much his own family had changed while he was missing.

"Hey, it's not like we have to go to school anymore," he offered with a shrug, refusing to pursue that particular line of thought. "We graduated, remember?"

She gave an exasperated groan and cuffed the back of his head, though there wasn't any real force to it. "College, genius! It's hard to get into a school after any kind of hiatus – and with the hit your GPA took, it's going to be even tougher."

"It always comes back to grades, doesn't it?"

"Ah, go bury your head or something. You know I'm just trying to look out for you."

Sora cocked an eyebrow, amused. He barely stifled a chuckle. "You, looking out for me? Good one! I remember having to watch your back all the time, once you got involved with the Nobodies."

His comment was rewarded with a playful punch to the gut.

"Oh, come on! I didn't even have any training!" Kairi retorted, full of mock indignation. "Riku just shoved a Keyblade at me and ran off to smack some Heartless around! There's no way I wasn't joining the fun."

"Oh yeah?" Sora stood, grinning devilishly as he brushed the sand from his cargo pants. "You still fought like a girl, Kairi."

"I am a girl, doofus."

"Lame excuse!"

"You're just jealous 'cause I'd totally thrash you."

"Really? Wanna bet?"

"You're on!"

Sora barely saw her kick up a stick from the sandy ground. It was a thick specimen, not too heavy, but certainly not fragile. She raised it like a sword, assuming the basic ready-stance he'd taught her. She smiled wickedly. Casting around for a similar weapon, Sora noticed a thin bough of driftwood bobbing on the currents, bumping against the side of the islet's eroded cliff.

He leaped over the edge, snatching at a thick rope they'd tied to a nearby paopu tree and sliding down to the tide. Grabbing the branch and shaking off as much water as he could, he held it at arms length, spun it, practiced a quick thrust and parry. It was a bit heavy, waterlogged as it was, but it would do.

Aiming it like a javelin, he launched his weapon of choice up and over onto the islet, then began scrambling back up the rope.

"Hey, Sora!"

He turned to look back out to sea, where a small rowboat drifted toward them from the mainland. Its steersman waved.

"Awesome, Riku's here!" Sora called up to Kairi as he returned the gesture. He cupped one hand to the side of his mouth and called out. "Hey, Riku! What took you so long?"

"Had to leave a note! I'll be right there."

It didn't take long for the albino boy to pull into the docks. In little more than a minute, the three stood together on the islet as they had done so many times before. Kairi had retrieved her knapsack from the foot of the paopu tree. The three items of interest were now spread on the scrubby grass before them: the bottle, the letter, and the marble-looking thing.

"I don't recognize the brand name," said Riku, nudging the bottle with his foot. "It's probably from some other world, not that that's too surprising."

Kairi nodded toward the letter, one hand on her hip, the other gesturing as she spoke. "What gets me is the King's letter. He tells us to get to Radiant Garden, but doesn't offer any ideas on how to get there. What're we going to do, sail?"

Sora smirked. "A couple years ago, yeah, we would've tried that." Kairi stooped and picked up the marble as he continued. "And the King wouldn't forget something that basic, so the answer's probably there in that thing." He watched her hold it up to the sun, peering closely.

"Hm. Well, it's pretty," she said, rolling it between her fingers. It was bright as a gem, a smooth-polished sphere of pure amethyst. "But I have no clue how a rock's supposed to – oh, look, there's an engraving!" She turned it toward Sora and Riku, pointing out an image stamped into it in gold leaf. It was tiny, but Sora thought it looked a bit like a stylized teardrop turned on its side. A memory tickled the back of his mind – he knew that rock from somewhere.

"Here, let me see." He held out his hand, and Kairi dropped it into his palm. Holding it closer to his face, he realized that the insignia was not of a teardrop, but a lamp. Specifically, the kind he'd seen everywhere on the desert world of Agrabah.

Suddenly realization dawned on him.

"Ah, wait! This is a Summon Stone."

"A what?" Kairi leaned in close for a second appraisal. "Looks like a marble to me. What's it do?"

"A Summon Stone helps you call on a friend's heart whenever you need them," he explained, showing it to Riku as well. "Beyond that, it depends on who you call on."

"How's phoning a friend going to help us?"

Sora grinned. If the King's plan was what he thought it was, they were in for an interesting ride. "I think I know – just watch."

He closed his fist around the little gem and closed his eyes. It had been so long since he'd last Summoned anyone, but still, to his surprise, the memory returned in an instant. In his mind's eye he could see the jovial phantom zooming in loop-de-loops around him, laughing uproariously, grinning from ear to ear with the sheer joy of freedom.

A sudden warmth blossomed between his fingers, a rush of wind whipped the sand around them into tiny dust-devils – and Kairi yelped.

Sora's eyes snapped open to find the three of them engulfed in glittering violet smoke. The pungent scent of incense filled his nose. The stone gave a spark of light. He let go instinctively; it hovered in the air, glowing like a fallen star and humming with power.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAH!"

Riku ducked as some kind of huge blue missile swooped past his head. It looped around them, banked sharply upward, grazed the paopu branches, dived and skimmed the sea below, then soared skyward again in a series of dizzying acrobatics.

"Yeesh, I thought you'd never figure it out. Brilliant deduction, Sherlock! I guess you're a detective as well as otherworldly pest control expert."

The Genie snapped his fingers, and a fedora appeared in a puff of smoke on Sora's head, accompanied by an overlarge trench coat draped about his shoulders. "Best in the business, in my opinion, not that there's any competition. But man, oh man, is it good to see you!" Genie ruffled his hair playfully and clapped him heartily on the back. He would have been at least a head taller than Riku, even if he hadn't been a floating specter whose lower half dissolved into azure smoke.

Sora beamed. Genie was exactly as he remembered – broad shoulders and a muscular chest, strong facial features and a neatly trimmed black goatee, with raven hair pulled back in a short queue.

The djinn leaned in close, inspecting Sora's face with narrowed black eyes. "Well, lookie here – someone's gotten even taller since I last saw him." Then he was by Riku's side, vigorously shaking the bewildered youth's hand. "And you must be the famously infamous Riku! Boy, we've heard all about you from your spiky little friend here." And then he was hovering a few feet above them, observing Kairi with the eye of a jewel appraiser. "And this… Why, this must be Kairi! Am I right? Am I?"

Giggling uncontrollably, Kairi nodded and waved. "Haha, that's me alright. Who're you?"

Genie bowed with a flourish. "I, fair lady, am one who is greatly indebted to your most valorous friend." He swept an arm in Sora's direction, conjuring a rose with the other hand and offering it to her. "He sets me free, I come zap some bad guys when he needs me – and occasionally I chauffer him around. In this case –" There was a small explosion of the glittering smoke, and an airplane materialized atop a wind-bent paopu tree, modified landing gear gripping its trunk like a pair of bird feet. "I happen to be your ticket off this happy vacation spot. We're goin' first class, people, turbo-charged! There's a need for some serious speed on this little mission."

Sora's eyebrow raised inquisitively. "What's the rush? Is it that bad, whatever the King was talking about?"

Genie suddenly grimaced.

"Oh, it's bad alright." He shuddered. "These critters make What's-Her-Face with the raven look like a toddler picking daisies."

"I find that really hard to believe," interjected Riku, arms folded.

"Well, okay, it's a bit of an exaggeration. But trust me when I tell you, it ain't pretty what they do. Haven't seen any around here, have you?"

"We have," all three chimed at once. Sora stared at the djinn, taking note of the almost-serious tone he used – a rarity for Genie. It was making him nervous.

The blue phantom's eyes widened. "Then you just wait until you see one of them taking on a Heartless! Allow me to demonstrate."

Another puff of smoke, and a small puppet theater appeared before them. Moments later, tiny marionettes emerged from behind the velvet curtain – a mechanical Shadow, complete with light-up eyes, and a small replica of the creature that had tried gutting Sora.

Suddenly Genie was behind the three of them, brandishing a microphone. "Welcome, welcome, ladies an' gentlemen, check out today's contenders!" he called in a booming announcer's voice. "In this corner –" the Shadow puppet wiggled and scuttled about, a fair imitation of the real thing, "the tiny terror, the slashing shrimp, the vicious beast of nightmares, a Heartless!"

Raucous applause sounded from all around them, though there was no one else in sight. Riku's head swiveled left and right, confused and visibly unsettled. "That's… a little creepy."

"Aaaaand in this corner," the white puppet unfurled its miniscule wings, hissing, "we have today's challenger, a newcomer from who-knows-where! That's right, folks, this little upstart has proven themselves against foe after foe, taking down anyone who dares stand in it's path. He don't look like much but he is on fire, folks! And I do mean that literally!"

The stage beneath the puppet's clawed feet smoldered. "He's the one, the only, the mysterious, the merciless, Thing Whose Name I Don't Know!" The puppet opened its mouth and bared its fangs, hissing viciously at the Shadow, who simply waggled its antennae in response.

A bell sounded from nowhere, two loud chimes – and the two puppets threw themselves at each other in a flurry of limbs.

They tumbled about, snarling and screeching, sparks flying in all directions. The theater's curtain caught fire. The combatants ripped at each other with tiny claws, thrashing like wild things. In seconds they literally tore each other to shreds. Shattered marionette limbs scattered across the stage and were quickly engulfed in the growing flames.

Suddenly an oversized bucket appeared over the burning theater; it up-ended itself, dumping gallons of water on the small blaze with a hiss of steam. Then both theater and bucket vanished.

"That," said Genie pointedly, "is just the two little guys."

Riku winced.

The djinn disappeared and the aircraft's door opened, allowing Genie – in full airline steward's regalia – to lower a set of retractable stairs to the sand. "Which is why His Majesty would really, really, really like you to come to this little pow-wow he's holding. He can tell you a lot more than I can, and they need your help. Badly."

The three exchanged glances. Sora looked at Kairi.

"You ready?"

She nodded, arms crossed firmly. "Ready for anything."

Riku did likewise, but didn't comment.

With Genie's hurried encouragement, they were in the air in only a few seconds. The plane was actually far more spacious than it appeared on the outside – doubtless an effect of Genie's magic – comparable to a commercial airliner, except they were the only passengers. Sora leaned back in the plush seat and looked through the window, watching the Islands retreating beneath them.

Their world was a small one, covered in blue and dotted with tiny patches of land. But the land was green, the blue clear and beautiful. He'd seen similar sights many times, but never of his own homeland. Wispy clouds swirled and undulated across its surface, their patterns growing ever more intricate as the group flew higher into space.

"Take a good look," came Riku's voice from the seat in front of his. "We don't know how long it'll be until we see it next."

Sora glanced at the back of the seat's headrest. "C'mon, Riku, try being optimistic. It may not be that long."

Silence.

Then Riku laughed. It was a relaxed sound, full of amusement and – relief?

"Not for me, Sora. I'm not going back."

Sora did a double take. He blinked. He must have misheard. "You're – what? Why?"

The speakers picked that precise moment to crackle to life.

"Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking! We're about to enter a little somethin' I like to call hyperspace. We request that you remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened, and remind you that there is to be no smoking at any time. Kairi, you can sit down now. Thank you!"

Kairi laughed and flopped into the seat next to Sora. She beamed, eyes shining with excitement.

"Here we go, Sora! And this time I get to come, too!"