I know, it's been a while, but I've been gone for like, half the summer. So, what did you guys think of the last Harry Potter movie? Oh, and would someone mind helping me with Ari's Halloween Town outfit? Thanks!

I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR KINGDOM HEARTS!


Chapter Nine: Undersea Adventures

Sora and I stood in the back room of the Gummi ship, or, as Sora called it, the training room. Sora held his Keyblade, which I found out was called the Kingdom Key. In his other hand, he held some Keychains, one of which I remembered from Agrabah.

"So," the brunette said, "the Keychains can change the appearance and power of you Keyblade. Lady Luck-" he held up a square Keychain that looked like a playing card "-makes your magic be more powerful." He held up the lamp-shaped Keychain that we got in Agrabah and pressed it to the Keyblade's current chain. In a flash of light, it changed.

This Keyblade had a blue handle and heart-shaped guard and a tan blade that turned lighter towards the end. The teeth were slightly heart-shaped and curved a little. The Keychain was Genie's lamp. I touched the handle. Three Wishes echoed through my head.

Goofy walked in at that moment. "Hey, fellers!" he said cheerfully. "We're getting to a new world! This one's called Atlantica."

"I hope it's better than the space whale," I said.

The two of us followed Goofy back to the cockpit, our shoes making metallic clinks on the floor. Outside the window, I saw what looked like a planet of water surrounded by a holey meteor.

"Okay, guys," Donald quacked. "Prepare for teleportation."

"In the sea?" Sora exclaimed. "We'll drown!"

"Not with my magic, we won't," the wizard responded. "Just leave it to me."

We walked to the teleportation room. I was worried. How did Donald have magic that would allow us to breathe underwater? The only ways I could think of that would do that were Gillyweed and a Bubble-headed Charm.

When Chip and Dale the chipmunks teleported us to the new world, I felt a strange sensation in my legs. All of a sudden, I felt something pressing against my body. And then I realized: Water was pressing against my body. I felt my brown hair wave around. I opened my eyes.

I was floating in a cavern, coral of various colors growing on it. I looked down and gasped. I didn't have legs anymore. Instead, I had a tail that was covered with purple fish scales. The top half of my body was still the same, but I wore a different top. It was a sapphire blue halter-top that tied behind my neck with light blue straps. It covered my front (well, it would if it didn't billow up, revealing my stomach) and left much of my back bare, except for a light blue strap that came across my back just below my shoulder blades. My pendant seemed to be missing.

Hazel had a pink tail a lot like mine, except that it was an inch or so longer. Her top was a dark pink bikini halter-top with a strap that tied behind her neck and another that crossed her back. Strapped to her left forearm, she had a wand holder. She could reach with her right arm and pull it out.

Sora had a navy blue dolphin tail with a dorsal fin on the back. He was shirtless and seemed to be missing his crown pendant.

Donald was shirtless as well and had blue octopus tentacles that were yellow underneath instead of his webbed feet. He was missing his blue, zippered hat. Wait, where did he keep his staff?

Goofy had changed into a sea turtle, but his head stayed the same, including his hat. Where was his shield?

"This is weird," Hazel said. "I never knew that there was this kind of magic. Wait… Why are you all upside down except for Donald?"

"Hazel," I said, "you're the one that's upside down."

"Oh." She swung her arms around and eventually righted herself.

I heard voices. "Come on, Sebastian!" a young woman's voice called.

And then I heard a Jamaican voice next. "Ariel, wait! Slow down! Don't leave me behind!" A crab nearly swam into Donald's still upside-down face.

A girl a couple years older than me swam into the cavern. She had a tail covered with green scales instead of legs and a purple seashell top. Her eyes were light blue and her long hair was as red as Sora's shorts.

A small fish floated next to the girl. He was yellow and had blue fins. He had four stripes on his back.

Donald righted himself, and the rest of us tried to swim to the newcomers. Hazel failed. Somehow, she managed to get herself upside down again.

"Relax, Sebastian," the girl said. "They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?" The girl, Ariel, I think, turned to the fish.

"I don't know," Flounder said in a small voice. "There's something weird about them."

"There's nothing weird about us at all," Hazel said as she drifted past me, still upside down.

Donald was still glaring at Sebastian, arms crossed. Goofy and Flounder seemed to be having a staring contest.

Sora laughed nervously. "We're from kind of far away. And we're not really used to the waters." He chuckled nervously. Oh, he was a terrible liar.

"Yeah," Hazel piped up as she looked around the cave nervously. "We're from uh… Arisoha? We always swim like this."

Arisoha? I mouthed.

Hazel pointed at me, then at Sora and then at herself.

"Oh, I see," Ariel said. "In that case… Sebastian can show you how we swim around here."

"Ariel," the crab protested, "King Triton will not like this!"

"Oh, don't worry," the mermaid replied.

"Easy for you to say…" The crab turned to us. "Okay, it's time for you to lean how to swim properly."

After ten minutes of flailing around with my arms, I thought I had the hang of swimming with a tail. The mer-tail was for propulsion, and my arms could be used for steering. For practice, I chased Flounder around the cavern.

Sora had nearly perfected this new style of swimming after five minutes. He explained that he had spent many long days swimming in the ocean surrounding his home world, Destiny Islands. He and I started a game about who could catch Flounder first. Sora won.

"Good," Sebastian said. "Now let's move onto self-defense –"

"Sebastian!" Ariel cried, pointing to the tunnel she, Flounder, and Sebastian had come from. From it, I could see six squid-like figures, but they only had two tentacles each. The Heartless insignia was visible on its bulbous head. A name sprang to my mind: Sea Neon.

"Class is over," Sebastian said. "Good luck!" Really supportive, wasn't he? He and Flounder swam to a large clam in the center of the cave while Ariel hid in a dark alcove.

Hazel pulled her wand out of its holster while the rest of us summoned our respective weapons. Oh, so Donald and Goofy didn't carry their weapons! I got it! Radiant Sky appeared in my hand in the reverse grip.

As we fought, I was amazed at how Donald's magic, especially his Thunder and Fire magic, still worked underwater. Hazel soon learned that Incendio fizzled out as soon as it left her wand. She instead resorted to using spells that she had obviously learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

In a matter of minutes, the Sea Neons were gone. They left behind munny, which I had to remember was different than the gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts that I was used to.

Sora dove down and tapped the large clam Sebastian and Flounder had been hiding in with Three Wishes. The clam opened with a stream of bubbles. Ariel swam out of the alcove she had been hiding in.

"Those creatures chased us," Ariel said.

"Oh, no!" Sebastian exclaimed. "Those monsters might be heading for the palace, too!" Just how big was this place if it had a palace? Wait, Agrabah had one, too.

"We'd better head back right away!" Ariel said.

"But," Flounder put in, "wh-what if we run into more on our way back?"

The mermaid turned to us. "I'm sorry, but we need your help. Please come to the palace with us."

"Sure!" Sora and I said in unison.

"Okay, just follow us. We know the way around here."

I nodded. "Let's do this!"

Ariel took the lead, followed by Sebastian and Flounder. Sora swam after them, Donald and Goofy right behind him. Hazel and I took the back. My sister always seemed to like swimming in circles, so I held her hand to keep her swimming straight.

As we emerged from the cave, I gasped in astonishment. The place was beautiful! We seemed to be in a canyon with overpasses and underpasses. Colorful coral grew on the sides. Above me, I saw sunlight and ripples on the surface. I could see the sunlight on the walls of the canyon.

We swam for several minutes. I knew for a fact that without this world's natives, I would have gotten so lost. I had a terrible sense of direction.

Finally, after going through a tunnel, there was a vast openness of water that was filled with what looked like the underwater version of buildings. Enormous blue, aqua, and purple seashells with many good-sized holes filled the space. We seemed to be in the middle of a town square. Everywhere I looked, I saw merpeople swimming around with various colors for tails. The women and girls wore seashell tops much like Ariel's but with different colors and all had different styled hair. All in all, it seemed much like an underwater version of London.

In the distance, I could see a green and yellow castle that seemed to glow. Ariel led us there, but as we got closer, I could see her getting a little nervous. We finally reached the castle, which had a massive archway. Right inside of it were huge, dark blue-green pillars. At the end of the hall was a large throne.

I heard swishing in the water behind me. Heartless! There were about seven of them. They were humanoid and had green armor and carried long and sharp-looking spears. The name Screw Driver popped into my head.

I prepared to summon my Keyblade, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gold light heading right for the Screw Drivers. They were blasted with the light. I turned and saw a man with a tail that had blue scales. He had golden bracers on his wrists. In his hands was a golden trident. The man looked extremely strong, but he had a long beard that was as white as snow. It looked nearly as long as the late Professor Dumbledore's! He had a golden crown on his head.

"That was too close," the man (who was obviously the king) said. Ariel swam to him. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace." The king looked sternly at each of us off-worlders in turn.

"Daddy!" Ariel said excitedly.

"Oh, Ariel!" King Triton exclaimed angrily. "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!"

The mermaid rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Strange creatures lurk outside," he continued.

I narrowed my eyes at that and crossed my arms over my chest.

Sebastian cleared his throat. "Behold," the crab said to us. "You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton."

"And who are they?" King Triton asked.

"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel replied.

"They don't look familiar."

I was getting tired of him talking about us as if we weren't there. "We're not from around here," I said.

"We're travelers!" Hazel piped up.

"A-hyuck!" Goofy laughed. "Yup. We came to find the Keyhole." He swam up to Ariel.

"The what?" Triton asked suddenly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Donald cross his arms and grumble.

"What's that?" Ariel asked curiously.

Goofy laughed again. "Well, it's a-"

"There's no such thing," the king finished harshly. "Certainly not here."

"But Daddy…" Ariel said.

Triton glared at his daughter. "Ariel, not another word! You are not to leave the palace! Is that clear?"

Ariel glared back defiantly and then turned away. She swam towards the exit of the throne hall. Sora and I shared a look before going after her. We swam out of the palace.

When we reached the end of the hall, I could see Ariel swimming through the crowd of people in the city. She was only visible by her bright red hair.

"Let's go after her," Goofy said as he swam ahead of us.

"Yeah," Donald agreed as he caught up with the turtle/dog. "There's no telling what kind of trouble she'll get herself into."

And so we struck out into the city. I took up the rear again. I soon realized that this was a mistake. Venders held me up, trying to sell me "the best kelp-shampoo around!" After I maneuvered around them, I would get held up with five more. Soon, I lost sight of Hazel and Sora. Which way did they go? I swam in the direction I could have sworn they went in, but I wound up looking into a field of kelp. As I said before, my sense of direction was terrible.

"Aw, great," I said to myself. "This is absolutely brilliant! I'm completely lost, and now I have no chance of ever finding any of my friends again!" I sighed.

I jumped when I heard a snake-like voice from behind me speak. "Poor child."

"Who's there?" I asked warily, ready to whip out my Keyblade.

"Poor child," the voice said again, this time to my left. I turned and saw an eel. Its left eye was yellow, and the other looked like a normal eye.

"Left all alone, lost and friendless," another voice said from my right. There was another eel there. It was identical to the one that had just spoken, except for the fact that its eyes were swapped.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but I knew exactly what they were talking about.

"Ursula can help," the eels said in unison. "But are you willing to accept her help?"

Who was this Ursula? Could she really help me find my way? Could she even help me find all of my friends that were scattered around?

"Take me to her," I said, hoping that I didn't make a mistake.

The eels grinned. "Follow us," they commanded. They turned tail and swam to an underwater mountain. I followed them. As we went, the water turned darker and colder. I felt goose bumps pop up on my arms. They led me through a series of caves and tunnels, which were extremely difficult to memorize.

Finally, we reached the end of those dark tunnels and into an open space. In the distance, I could see what looked like a whale, but not the size of Monstro. Light was coming through the open mouth. I swam up to it…