The next morning the three friends were awoken by the gentle nudge of daybreak, had junk food for breakfast and packed up their sleeping gear. Sora cheated and used Wind magic to give himself a quick push to their main island. He left their things at his house so not to be left out to the elements for the time they were away. When he returned, they all took a walk around the entire island.
"Feel better?" Kairi asked Riku.
"Yeah." Riku answered. "Thanks a lot, guys."
"Told you this was just the thing you needed."
"So what do you guys want to do today?" Kairi asked.
"Nothing says we have to stay here. We could head back and get ice cream." Sora suggested.
"This early?" Riku asked.
"Just a thought."
"Or go to Mr. Joseph's garden patch and see if the watermelons are ripe. He'll let us have one if we ask."
"We could do that."
"I brought one of the magic shells if you guys wanted to go swimming first." Kairi said.
"You did?"
"Yep. I have a special box I keep it in. I packed it with my stuff last night."
"We could maybe race a lap or two around the island in the water before going back."
"Then go back and have ice cream for lunch?"
Could a greater idea ever be hatched? But they never got a chance. Just as they left the waters edge after a good hour of swimming, Sora pointed something out.
"What's that?" Sora shielded his eyes from the high sun.
"Where are you looking?
"What's what?"
"That."
There was something dark on the ocean. Or at least that's what they thought at first. It took a moment to distinguish what it was. It certainly couldn't be a whale. That would have to be a HUGE whale to appear that size from that distance.
The shape of a ship appeared on the horizon and approached fast. Not just any ship. Nothing like would be found on any of the Destiny Islands. This was a ship that could fly.
Riku was so astonished and overjoyed he didn't realize he was holding his breath. The ship approached rapidly. In no time it went from appearing small enough to hold in the palm of a child's hand to-yikes! Too close! It came at them head on, then, little more than a half mile away the Sky King turned broad-side and came to a halt close to the shore with a tsunami spray of water, showering the entire beach (occupants included). The rocking ship righted itself and all was silent for a minute. The friends sputtered a bit from getting splashed and blinked away the salt in their eyes. That entire section of beach had instantly gone from white to tan from all the water, even in areas high tide never touched.
Suddenly a large purple shape zoomed off the ship directly at them. Every muscle fiber in his stomach clenched in excitement, joy and relief when Riku saw Rachel. She flew over the trio, her face flushed and her smile bright.
"Hurryhurryhurry! No time to waste!" She motioned with her hands for the three of them to stand close together. "Sorry about that!" Noting they were all wet.
Kairi did a fair amount of pushing to comply. Who cared that they were wet or they had no idea why the Masters were back? Rachel plunged a hand into her pixie dust pouch and showered them with sparkles. They were so happy to see their friends again they began to float immediately, unaided by a specific happy thought. Rachel took Kairi by the wrist and smiled brightly at Riku.
"Hurry up!" Came Bryan's voice from the ship.
"What's going on?" Sora asked excitedly.
"I'll explain in a minute! Hurryhurry! On the ship! C'mon! Move!"
"Is this what being kidnapped feels like?"
"Yes it is. Get going! Shoo! Bust a move!"
With a fair bit of pushing she got the three of them on the ship, signaled her brother and the ship began to move again.
"Hang on!" Rachel warned, clinging to the rail.
"For what?" Immediately Riku realized how dumb the question was. Seconds later the ship picked up speed, then with a jolt the world around them became a magnificent blur of a thousand colors. It was like trying to hang on to the bars of a fast moving merry-go-round. This was how they normally traveled?
As quickly as it began, the ship slowed again. When everyone shook off the dizzy, they got a good look where they were. Sora recognized it as part of the pathway between worlds. The swirling colors, the shapeless masses, they'd stopped in the place in between. There were no obstacles this time and no Heartless ships. Kairi rushed to the rail to look over. She'd never traveled like this before. She was too much in awe to speak, or finish a sputtering sentence at least. When Sora, Donald and Goofy had taken her back to Traverse Town from Hollow Bastion they had used warp drive so she had no idea what the space between even looked like. This was pretty new for Sora too. The Gummi ship was very different from a ship built much like a mariners vessel. Chief difference being there was a nice cozy cockpit to be nice and secure inside while they traveled.
"Whoa," Sora said, a little way-legged as he stood up. "That was something."
"So why are we here?" Riku asked. Not like he was complaining. The girl his heart ached for had literally fallen out of the sky. Not at all unhappy to see her, quite the contrary in fact, just, why'd they have to get shanghaied?
"Um," Rachel looked up at the helm to her brother. "Which of us is the best at summarizing?"
"I am. You can't ever just get to the point."
"Not true!"
"Then why even ask? Ok! Master Yen Sid went to have a special meeting or something with King Mickey at Disney Castle and expected it to take a while. He said between the important matters he had to discuss and other things he might have to do away from the Tower it might even take as long as a week! The second he was gone we dashed off here to go world jumping with you guys."
"World jumping?!" Kairi squeaked.
"He never exactly said what we couldn't do while he was away."
"Just not to get into any trouble."
"Yes!"
"That is awesome!" Sora said. "Where are we going first?"
Bryan spun the helm and looked down on them with a smarmy grin.
"Wherever you want."
