"Are we going to keep running into that creep?" Sora said as the two groups prepped to take off.

"That seems to be our luck thus far," Ignis said "So, now for the full introductions."

"Maybe that should wait for when we all actually look like ourselves again," Noctis said.

"Fair enough," Ignis said after a moment.

"You're not going to believe it at all!" Prompto bounced in place giddily. Donald and Goofy shared a giggle. Goofy opened his mouth.

"Get on the ship before you spoil it, Goofy!" Donald said placing a feathered hand over the dog's mouth.

"Gwarsh, Donald it's like you don't want him knowing that—."

"Goofy!" the others said in unison. Goofy shrugged and boarded the ship with Sora and Donald following suit.

"I suppose any sensitive information should be kept away from his ears?" Ignis said.

"Definitely," Gladio said.

"How is it you managed to get the Regalia here if they were loading into a space ship?" Ignis said.

"Check it out!" Prompto said sliding into the front seat, losing his disguising magic and becoming himself, while Noctis slid into the driver's seat and pressed a button converting the Regalia into flight mode. Ignis took his glasses off and wiped them on his shirt before replacing them revealing that had just happened.

"Incredible," Ignis said. He climbed in the backseat and was glad to see he too reverted to himself upon fully entering the Regalia.

"Meet you at the next point on the map, slow pokes!" Ignis blinked at Sora's face on the GPS display. That face looked familiar to him. He just couldn't place a finger on it.

"In your dreams!" Noctis said firing up the car and taking off, in a procedure that was very much like starting up the car in its regular terrestrial form, he noticed.

"Just keep an eye out for Monstro!" Goofy said.

"It wasn't us who got swallowed by that whale, remember?" Prompto said.

"Yeah, yeah," Donald huffed.

"Am I missing something?" Ignis said.

"Long story short, there's this giant freaking whale flying about and it swallowed their ship!" Prompto held his hands out for emphasis.

"And it didn't swallow you as well?"

"Nope, but we had our own problems," Noctis said.

"A flying fortress full of them," Gladio said.

"It would appear I missed an eventful—Watch out!" Noctis barely twirled the car out of the way of a massive form. A pirate ship. An honest to goodness pirate ship. In Inter-Space. What the hell?

"Sora!" Noctis saw the other ship get caught by the pirate vessel. Cannonballs were shot in their direction forcing Noctis to dodge and roll the Regalia to avoid taking fire. Prompto reached for the controls. Gladio leaned up and grabbed a shoulder.

"They have Sora and the others on board."

"If you must shoot, aim for their cannons!" Ignis said after a moment.

"Gotcha! Glad to have you back Iggy," Prompto said altering his aim and firing only at the cannons. This caused the ship to stop and try to out run the Regalia.

"Let's let them think they got away, and we can trace them to their world of origin," Ignis said placing a hand Noctis's shoulder.

"Sure," Noctis said.

Sora awoke on the deck of the Pirate Ship, and immediately saw he was alone. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Riku was there as were a whole crew of Heartless and a man in red with a hook for a hand.

"Where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora demanded.

"Are they that important to you? More important than old friends? Maybe instead of worrying about them, you should be asking about her!" Riku dramatically stepped aside revealing,

"Kairi!" Sora couldn't believe it. There she was. What's wrong with her? She's not moving.

"That's right, while you were goofing off, I finally found her," Riku crossed his arms smugly. Sora tried to run to her but Hook blocked his path.

"Not so fast. No shenanigans on my vessel, boy!" Sora kept his guard up as the pirate heartless surrounded him.

"Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?" Sora asked.

"The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear." Riku gestured at the heartless but Sora shook his head in disgust.

"You're stupid. Sooner or later they'll swallow your heart."

"Not a chance. My heart's too strong." Riku smugly crossed his arms.

"Riku…" Sora said sadly.

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well, just like you. Like this, for instance." Riku held a hand out and a shadow Sora arose much to Sora's shock. Wait a second. That's right! He did have a new trick. Sora summoned the keyblade and threw it past Riku. He warped to Kairi's side.

"Like you said, just like me, you have new tricks," Sora said crouching next to Kairi. Before he could try shaking her to get her attention he was swarmed by shadow versions of himself forcing him to warp away.

"You can go to your friends now," Riku said. Sora looked at him confused before the ground gave away too fast for him to even think of warping.

"That ability of his could be quite troublesome," Hook said twirling his mustache with his hook.

"That's your problem. Keep him away from Kairi until we land," Riku said.

"It was really her!" Sora said.

"That's great, Sora!" Goofy said.

"Yeah, yeah, but get off!" Sora and Goofy scrambled off of Donald who got up and dusted himself off.

"Well the others aren't here, so that must mean they haven't been captured yet," Goofy said.

"You're right," Sora said, "But first we have to get out of here."

"Ahem!" They turn to the corner of the room.

"Who are you?"

"The answer to your prayers!"

"What! So you mean Wendy's not one of the chosen ones?" Hook was fuming. After all that blasted trouble—

"Maleficent says there are seven of them, supposedly, and she's not one of them," Riku said.

"After all the trouble I went to capture her? And why those seven? What is Maleficent planning!"

"As long as it gets Kairi's heart back, I don't care," Riku said. The door burst in as a pair of burly pirates held a squirming fighting form between them.

"She broke out of her cell again, Captain!"

"Enough of this!" Hook said holding his hook up to her throat she stopped to glare at him. "You will behave yourself, girly!"

"My name is "Iris," not girly!"

"Iris, you're wasting your energy," Riku said as he made more pirate heartless appear and surround her with their swords pointed at her. The two other pirates let her go and nursed the bruises she had inflicted on them.

"You really think all of this frightens me?" Iris said slipping into a fighting stance.

"It should, girly. You're unarmed against me heartless crew!" Hook said. Iris snorted.

"Until you've gotten between my big brother and the last Cup Noodle, you haven't seen scary," Iris said.

"If you keep this up, we'll make sure the other girl walks the plank," Riku said. Iris glared but stood down.

"You're all cowards and I hope Gladdy gets here and kicks your asses!" Iris said allowing herself to be led away by the whole troupe of heartless.

"Make way, and get rid off all the dead weight first, including Wendy and her," Riku said.

"With pleasure," Hook said. How dare that little girl call him not frightening! He was the menacing Captain Hook! The Scourge of the Seven Seas!

"What an odd sight," Ignis said studying the display before them "You'd think we'd be looking at a planet and not something irregularly shaped like that."

"Never bothered to ask why, but when we get back to Traverse Town, I'm sure Merlin would know," Prompto said, "Any blending in vibes here, Noct?"

"Nope. There appears to be some rocks near that ship on the display we can land on instead of having to attempt the ship directly for the element of surprise," Noctis said.

"I'm proud of you for coming up with that plan, Noct," Ignis said.

"Aw, gee thanks, Mom," Noctis said rolling his eyes. He landed the Regalia in a sort of interspace pocket, like they had for Atlantica and leapt out of the car aiming for the water near the rocks. He swam to the surface and pulled himself up out of the water as the others joined him.

"What is that mysterious ticking noise?" Ignis asked. Noctis heard it and looked over to see ridges in the water that meant one thing: a crocodile. But what was a crocodile doing so far out?

"Dude! It's a crocodile! What's one of those doing here!" Prompto said, voicing Noctis's thoughts.

"From its size, it would be a saltwater crocodile," Gladio said, "I've seen pictures and they get bigger."

"I suppose we should get away from it in a snap," Ignis said. The ship started moving prompting them to leap and grab onto the anchor chain as it was pulled up. Noctis saw a porthole and used a quick smash with the Mace of the Fierce, to make a way in the ship.

"After you, Noct," Ignis said. Noctis rolled his eyes and crawled in.

"You two really think I'm going to fit through that?" Gladio said while Prompto shimmied in.

"Perhaps it would be best if we climbed up on deck and provided a distraction," Ignis said.

"Sure. Meet you later!" Noctis said from inside.

"Just waiting for a friend!" The boy who had had introduced himself as "the answer to their prayers" said. However, Sora and the others already had a way out, not that the boy knew that. In through the small hole in the door buzzed a glowing, tinkling light, which turned out to be a tiny woman with wings: a pixie. She seemed to speak in some sort of tinkling language.

"Tinker Bell, what took you so long?" More of her strange language. "Great job, so you found Wendy?" Tinker Bell crossed her arms with a huff. "Are you crazy? There's no way I'm going to leave Wendy there!"

"Aha. She must be pretty jealous," Donald said. Tinker Bell glared a him before flying over and kicking him hard in the beak dazing the duck.

"Come on Tink, open up the door!" Peter pleaded.

"A-hem," Sora coughed.

"I'm Peter Pan." Peter held out a hand.

"I'm Sora." Sora copied the move but Peter pulled his hand back quickly.

"Ok, we're in this together but only 'til we find Wendy. Come on Tink, let us out!"

"I can help with that." Sora aimed the keyblade at the door unlocking it with an audible click.

"That is a handy skill to have," Peter said floating ahead of them as they exited the cell.

"So, uh, how come you can fly?" Goofy asked.

"Anyone can fly. Wanna try?" Peter looked back at them. The others looked eager as Peter whistled. Tinker Bell came thinking back. She was still mad.

"Aw, haven't you cold off yet Tink?" Tink stuck her tongue out at him, but she hovered at grabbing level prompting Peter to grab her and shake her over Sora, Donald, and Goofy covering them in pixie dust. She tinkled indignantly afterwards.

"Just a little bit of pixie dust, and there. Now you can fly!" Donald attempted it only to fail.

"Gwarsh, if Donald can't do it, I bet we can't either." Goofy remarked.

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"You're a bird," Goofy said. Donald "baahhhed" and crossed his arms as they continued to make their way through the ship searching for Kairi and Wendy, as well as a way off.

Smee checked on the prisoners—Oh no! They were out! He heard a smash below. That had to be Peter Pan! There! He saw a flash of red and green. He had to tell the captain! Smee ran to the nearest speaking tube.

"Uh, Cap'in!"

"What?"

"The prisoners have escaped. What's more, Peter Pan is with them."

"Blast that Peter Pan! All right, then! Bring the hostage to me cabin Smee! Hop to it!"

"Aye-aye, Cap'in!"

Noctis and Prompto were in a dark hold of some sort and it was crawling with heartless that were wielding cutlasses barely visible in the scarce light that streamed in from holes above them.

"Noct, you're bleeding a little," Prompto said.

"I cut myself on the window," Noctis said warp striking a heartless; he switched weapons to wipe out several with a greatsword. Prompto took them all down with his guns.

"More are coming!" Prompto said.

"Probably drawn to the fact we're killing things down here," Noctis said.

"Where did you come from, you scurvy scum?" Honest to goodness pirates. Well they were on a pirate ship. The two were fat and one had a cutlass, and had a dagger in his teeth while the other had an old fashioned pistol along with a cutlass.

"This isn't a fair fight at all," Prompto said taking aim at the pair.

"You scared little boys?" one of the pirates said.

"Not of you," Noctis said warping and punching the one out while Prompto shot the other one's gun and sword from his hands before Noctis punched him out too.

"We'd better move fast. Chances are, more of them heard that," Noctis said.

Sora looked up at the grates in the ceiling above them and a pair of brown eyes, familiar looking brown eyes, stared back at him.

"Hey! Wendy, Peter's here and he has friends!"

"Peter? Peter Pan! You must hurry, the pirates are coming!" Wendy said as she too joined the other girl.

"Wendy! I'm coming, just hold on!" Peter said.

"Is there another girl up there with you?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, she's not moving. I'm Iris." Iris said.

"Sora." He climbed up and could see Kairi's fingers. She was still just as listless as she had been before. What was wrong with her?

"Kairi? Kairi!" he yelled.

"Quick, help me with the dresser!" A shriek was heard and cursing and struggling.

"Let me go you creeps!" Iris yelled. Kairi's arm and leg were dragged out of view.

"Wendy! Hey, let's get up there." Peter yelled.

"Let's see if we can find a way up," Sora said.

Peter found another room with a hole in the floor but the sound of gunfire below, made them pause.

"What was that?" Peter asked.

"That sounded like Prompto's guns," Goofy said.

"Prompto?" Peter quirked an eyebrow.

"A friend of ours," Sora said, "That means Noctis and the others are here."

"Whatever. I'm going after Wendy!" Peter said. Sora hesitated.

"They'll catch up," Donald said. Sora nodded and followed Peter into another room to find a ladder right up into a really nice cabin where Riku stood with Kairi on his back.

"Riku, wait!" Riku looked at Sora with a sneer. He gestured at the ground making another Shadow Sora and used that to get clear of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Peter as other heartless swarmed them.

Riku was out on the main deck where disturbance was taking place. A massive man wielding a sword longer than his own large frame was making short work of most of the waves of heartless swarming him.

"Gladio, back me up!" Riku noticed another tall man, this one wearing a tailored suit and glasses was with the man.

"Coming right up, Ignis!"

"Do something about them!" Hook yelled.

"Not my problem," Riku said turning away.

"Gladdy!" Riku turned back to see Iris trying to break free from the Pirates holding her. Gladdy. Wait, that was her— Riku understood now why she was not intimidated by the heartless, himself, the pirates, or Hook.

"Iris!" Gladio slammed his sword into more heartless and charged towards Iris. That was Riku's cue to run. That was so not his problem.

"Ah, not so fast, my large friend," Hook capitalized on this to point a blade at Iris's throat, "So, you're the brother this brat wouldn't shut up about. I must say, I am impressed. However, should you continue this, the girly shall end up hurt." Gladio let go of his weapon causing it to dissolve. Ignis followed suit.

"You might have won this round, but cowardice will not protect you forever," Ignis said. Sora, Donald and Goofy burst out onto deck.

"Gladio!" Sora said.

"So you know each other. I suppose threatening your little pixie friend might be overkill. Your codfish friend went to the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resides, without even saying goodbye," Hook said looking back at Sora, Donald and Goofy who noticed that Iris had a blade at her throat. Also, Hook motioned to Smee who revealed Tink had been captured in a lantern. Hook used his hook to scratch the glass, "But you'll not be going there. Not unless you want your friends to suffer for it. And don't even think of using your little teleportation trick, boy," Hook said. Sora released the keyblade as the others let go of their weapons too, allowing the pirates and the pirate heartless to surround them.

Ignis's eyes narrowed at the comment. "So, surrender the keyblade or you'll walk the plank. Keep in mind, the heartless aren't as merciful as me." That's when the ticking noise resumed.

"It's him! The crocodile that took me hand! Oh, Smee! He's after me other hand! I can't stay here!" The crocodile stuck his head out of the water and licked his lips. Hook paled further,

"G-Go away! Oh! I can't stand the sight of him! Smee, you take care of them!" with that Hook retreated to his cabin, like the coward he was.

"Alright, now gents, off the plank with you!" Smee said ordering the pirate heartless what to do. Sora was forced to walk backwards away from the ship.

"Fly, Sora! Just believe and you can do it!" It was Peter? Sora closed his eyes as the crocodile opened his mouth wide below him and leapt off the plank soaring into the air. With that distraction, Peter Pan dove from above to save Tink while Iris elbowed the pirates holding her in the guts allowing Gladio to summon his sword and send more to the Pirate heartless scrambling away.

"Thanks Peter," Sora said as he fought beside him.

"Hey, don't mention it. You didn't think I'd leave you and Tink behind, did you?"

The trap door exploded upwards and Noctis appeared grabbing onto a dagger embedded into a mast.

"What took you so long?" Gladio asked.

"Detour," Noctis said before he warped down to the deck and took on a few more heartless. He blinked at the fact Sora, Donald, and Goofy were flying. Prompto scrambled out and helped pick off the flying heartless and soon everything was settled.

"Where'd you get those?" Peter asked looking at Prompto's guns.

"A gun shop," Prompto said, "How are all of you flying?"

"That's a secret," Peter said with a smirk. Tinker Bell rolled her eyes and tinkled at him before she dusted the others.

"Fine, but they're grown-ups!" Peter said, "It's not like they'll be able to fly even with pixie dust!"

"Woo-hoo!" Prompto floated causing Peter to eat his words.

"Prompto has always been a child at heart," Ignis explained.

"Now what?" Sora said.

"I have an idea," Peter said.

Hook cowered behind his desk. That crocodile was after his other hand. No it was after his very life. Oh, what was he to do! A knock on the door startled him.

"Is that you, Smee? did you finish them off?"

"Aye, Cap'in. The walked the plank, every last one of them."

Sora and the others had to stifle their laughter at Peter's spot on Smee impression, and stood at the ready whenever Hook burst out and looked around expectantly. Peter floated behind him and poked him in the butt with his dagger making Hook jump and see the group of people ready to fight him with the smiling Peter Pan floating over them.

"P-Peter Pa—blast you!"

"Ready to make a splash, you old codfish? It's your turn to walk the plank!" Peter yelled. Heartless in the shape of battleships suddenly appeared; all of them aiming their guns at Sora, Noctis, Peter, and the others.

"Fire!" Hook said. Gladio summoned a shield and yanked Iris and Ignis behind him, Goofy doing the same with Donald. Prompto dove behind Gladio while Sora, Noctis, and Peter dodged forwards under the spray. Noctis warped up and drove his blade down into a battleship heartless causing it to disintegrate from impact.

"That is a neat trick," Peter said. Sora nodded to Noctis and copied the move, which had Ignis's eyebrows disappear into his hair line before he focused in the deck level heartless. In the middle of all of this Hook was dueling Peter Pan.

"Give it up, and prepare to meet thy doom!" Hook yelled.

"Dark and sinister man, have at thee!" Peter dove at him, only to be sent backwards into the air by a block of Hook's sword.

"Watch out!" A fire spell nearly hit Peter who ducked out of the way in time. The same could not be said for Hook. Sora winced whenever he realized he'd set Hook's pants on fire. A click let him know Prompto had immortalized the moment on his camera. More clicks followed as Hook ran around like a loon which allowed Peter to wait for the opportune moment to shove the evil pirate overboard with a giant splash. Hook glared up at Peter but he froze. A ticking was nearby and he turned to slowly see the crocodile was right next to him, happily licking its chops. With a girlish scream, Hook ran away for fast he was skimming across the top of the water,

"Smee!"

"Hang on Cap'in!" Smee lowered a rowboat and soon was following after his terrified captain as the coward fled the croc, screaming into the distance.

"You're all ok!" Iris dragged the guys into a hug.

"You know them, Iris?" Peter asked.

"Well, this is my big brother, Gladio," Iris said gesturing to Gladio, "His friend Ignis, Prince Noctis, and Noct's best friend Prompto. I don't know the others though."

"That's ok, we've already met," Peter said. Sora smiled and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked up and made his way over to the railing. He looked out over water. "I still can't believe it. I actually flew. Wait 'till I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not." Sora shook his head. There's no way him flying would even sound real to her.

"You can bring her to Neverland sometime. Then she can try it herself," Peter said.

"Yeah, Noct could bring Luna too," Prompto said grabbing Noct into a headlock which he slipped out of and messed with Prompto's hair.

"It's time to get Wendy home," Peter said with a sigh. Tinker Bell did a happy dance before she flew all over the ship.

"Are you making the whole ship fly?" Prompto asked.

"Of course! Anything's possible if you believe!" Peter said.

"If you believe, you can do anything, right? I'll find Kairi. I know I will. There's so much I want to tell her—about flying, the

pirates, and everything else that's happened." Sora said. Everyone held on as the ship lurched upwards.

"So, where did you meet Sora?" Iris asked.

"I met him in the world I ended up on," Gladio said, "He, Noct, Donald, and Goofy arrived in the middle of a tournament."

"I met him when they came to the world I ended up on," Prompto said, "It was a fun world. Full of adventure and treasure."

"We woke up on Traverse Town together," Noctis said, "It's a hubworld for people who lose their worlds."

"So, did he become your glaive or something? I saw him warp," Iris said.

"I was wondering about that myself," Ignis said.

"He's not a glaive," Noctis said standing next to Sora and messing up his spikes causing the younger teen to bat his hand away.

"Then how can he use that ability?" Ignis said.

"Well, my real name isn't Sora," Sora said, "I mean I answer to it and I grew up being called Sora, but my birth name is Astris."

Ignis snapped his fingers as the pieces finally fell into place.

"Astris Lucis Caelum, disappeared age three, second son of King Regis Lucis Caelum and Queen Aulea," Ignis said.

"He's Prince Astris?" Iris said.

"We did a test to prove it and everything," Prompto said.

"You do look a great deal like Her Majesty did," Ignis said after a few moments.

"I do?" Sora said. Noctis nodded.

"Yeah, you're a lot like her in other ways too," Noctis said.

"I wish I remembered her," Sora said.

"Don't feel bad about that," Noctis said, "You were really little when she…."

"How old was I?" Sora asked.

"Almost two," Noctis said.

"Oh," Sora said.

"So, where were you for the last eleven years?" Iris said.

"Another world: The Destiny Islands. Kairi and Riku also grew up there," Sora said.

"You grew up with that jerk?" Iris said.

"He didn't used to be like that," Sora said, "Before this, I'd have said he was my best friend. He changed while he's been out here. He's getting too close to the darkness, and I don't really know him anymore."

"Perhaps he isn't yet completely lost," Ignis said.

"Check it out!" Prompto drew their attention away from the conversation to their surroundings. They were floating near a huge clock tower that made Altissia's own clock tower seem puny in comparison.

"That's amazing!" Sora said. Wendy and Peter were walking and talking to one another on the tower.

"Peter, are you really going back to Neverland?" Wendy asked.

"Afraid so, but we can see each other any time. As long as you don't forget about Neverland, that is," Peter held her hands. That was the final straw for Tink, who was floating nearby. She angrily flew circles around Peter and Wendy, rapidly yelling at Peter in pixie. Donald laughed at her drawing the angry fairy's attention to him, so Donald covered his beak, having learned his lesson. She spun around Sora too.

"Oh, boy she's getting steamed again. Do me a favor, and look after her, will ya?"

"What?" Sora said.

"She needs some time to cool off, so let her tag along with you," Peter said.

"She can join your other cute summons," Noctis said.

"Cute?"' Sora arched an eyebrow.

"You summon two baby animals, a lion, and Genie," Noctis said.

"Oh yeah? What can you summon?" Sora said.

"He has the blessings of two of the six astrals," Ignis said.

"The what?" Sora asked.

"They're sort of like our gods," Prompto said, "Big and impressive. Here!" Prompto pulled up a photograph of Ramuh the Fulgurian.

"Wow! He sure is big!" Goofy said. A half memory came to mind for Sora.

"Ram-something?" Sora said.

"Close, Ramuh," Ignis said.

"I can't believe you remember that," Noctis said.

"Sora, could I speak to you a moment," Wendy said. Sora nodded and floated over to her, "I can tell you worry about Kairi."

"Is it that obvious?" Sora rubbed the back of his neck.

"The way you spoke about her earlier was," Wendy gave him a small smile, "Peter will remain with me as long as I remember him. You will find Kairi if she remains in your heart. Just don't give up."

"Thanks," Sora said.

"We need to get going. The others found a new navigation gummi and we have to get Iris to safety at Traverse Town," Noctis said nodding to Wendy.

"Bye, Wendy."

MP: Enter Iris the Sass Mistress. Honestly, Ardyn vs Maleficent was one of the first scenes in my head for this, but Iris sassing off at Riku was another early idea I had.

Especially considering she and Riku are the same age (they're both fifteen).

Riku is quite glad he didn't have to fight Gladio. He might be a bit of a punk, but he's not an idiot.

Originally, I was going to have Talcott show up with the Lost boys, but that really would have muddled everything up. Way too many moving parts to keep straight, so to speak.

Now Iggy's fully filled in on who Sora is to Noctis. Given more time, Iggy would have figured it out, since Sora looks like a younger male version of Aulea (at least in this universe). Though, he has Regis's eyes.
If you look at any anime shots of a younger Regis, they eyes are blue. It's using the crystal that's turning them reddish-brown.

Things are heading right towards the end of the KH arc with Hallow Bastion up after a brief break, because the plot demands it (I mean, there's no way in HELL Gladio would drag Iris to a world crawling with Heartless like Hollow Bastion is)

Future plans do include ideas for a 358/2 arc as well as a KH 2 and a DDD one as well (another of my amusing images was Ardyn vs some of the 'Norts because he hates Xehanort for messing with his plans)