SW: Hi guys, thanks for the reviews! I'm sorry I've been away for so long, but I had this weird depression thing, where I just could not write for this story. I'm sorry, but hopefully, things should be back to normal soon. Also, we are not coming to you from my living room, we're coming from my bedroom! Yeah, my parents finally brought me a new computer!
Yuffie: They already are back to normal. Sephiroth and Cloud are fighting in your bathroom right now.
SW: .................. What?!
Yuffie. SEPHIROTH AND CLOUD ARE FIGHTING IN YOUR BATHROOM!
SW: SEPHIROTH!!!! CLOUD!!!!!!! IF ANYTHING IS BROKEN WHEN I GET OVER THERE, I WILL HAVE BOTH OF YOUR (BUMS) ON A SILVER PLATTER!!!!!
Sora: Should we start the chapter?
SW: Yeah, why no-
(Crashes are heard down the hall)
SW: WHAT DID I SAY!?!?!?!?!?!?!? (Runs to bathroom)
Riku: Lets start.
SW: Oh my... HOW THE HELL DID YOU BREAK THE SHOWER?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!
"Did it really not occur to you that you were being rude?"
"Nope. Should it?"
"Yes!" Kairi sighed. "I may not know a lot about science and maths, but I do know about manners!"
"To be fair, I don't know a lot about maths either." Akira shrugged. "Sorry. I don't mean to be rude, it's just that sometimes it looks like I am."
"Why?"
"Because I'm just being blunt, which can be misinterpreted as rude."
"No, you're just being rude."
"Blunt."
"Rude."
"Blunter than a blunt thing. Where are we going next?" Akira asked. Kairi was quiet for a moment.
"Maybe a world we've heard about." Kairi thought. "What about Atlantica?"
"I don't know much about that. Is that the one with all the water?"
"Yeah."
"Ugh. I've already had to go swimming once today."
"So? It'll be good practise."
"Ugh."
"Will you stop saying that?"
"Okay. BLURGH!!!"
"STOP THAT!"
Riku was flopped on the floor when Maleficent entered. He raised his head and glared at the witch.
"What do you want?"
"Now that isn't very polite, is it?" Asked Maleficent, chuckling as if she knew some great joke. "I just thought I should let you know that Kairi and that other girl are looking for you. It is a pity," She continued. "That after all their hard work they will fail."
"What other girl?" Riku asked, frowning. "Naminé?"
"Does it matter?" Maleficent stated. "All that matters is that once Kurane is dispatched of, I will be free to take the worlds!"
"Kurane?" Riku wrinkled his face in confusion. "Who's Kurane?"
"Kurane is the person who abducted you and the keyblade master." Maleficent sighed. "But that is beside the point. The point is that you, Riku, could be by my side, ruler of the worlds-"
"NO!" Riku stood up and summoned Way to the Dawn. "I've told you, I'm not like that anymore!"
"You use the darkness when it suits you, and yet you refuse to admit that you ARE part of this realm Riku, whether you like it or not. You might as well accept the darkness fully, and gain your true powers."
"I said no." Riku stepped back into a fighting stance. "Nothing you can do or say will change my mind."
"Your heart is already tainted-"
"Tainted, not engulfed! I'm never giving into the darkness again!" Maleficent looked at Riku, before turning and leaving.
"See, this isn't so bad!" Kairi smiled happily, swimming in a circle. She looked down at her tail, pale pink with brighter pink fins. She was wearing a pink shell top, and was wondering how she could tie back her hair to get it out of her eyes when she was swimming.
"Speak for yourself!" Akira yelped, swimming into a wall for the fourth time in the three minutes since they had landed. Her tail was a vivid orange with red fins. Her top was a plain white crop top, which now had a few marks on it from her collisions with walls. "Why are there walls under the ocean?"
"It's not a wall, it's a sea-bed."
"Same thing."
"Look!" A figure swam up and inspected her cauldron. "It's them! They're here!" She laughed madly. "And now I can finally avenge poor dear Ursula." She pouted. "UNDERTOW!!!" A tiny shark swam in.
"Yes?"
"Where is my spell book! I need to make a storm! The biggest storm Atlantica has ever seen! One that will get rid of them forever!"
"See?" Kairi grinned, watching Akira manage to avoid swimming into a coral reef. "You're getting the hang of it now."
"Guess so." Akira frowned. "I still don't like these fins."
"Well they come with the package. You need the fins to swim." Kairi pointed out.
"Mm." Akira was quiet for a moment. "Although-"
"No. No although. Ever." Kairi said, before rubbing her forehead.
"You okay."
"Just got a headache. Strange, I only get headaches when there's thunder coming..." Kairi's voice trailed off as she looked upwards. In the sky above the ocean, dark clouds were gathering. "Oh."
"... Well isn't that wizard?" Akira said sarcastically, just before a massive boom of thunder echoed across the sky. The sea instantly because incredibly choppy, and what looked like a whirlpool began to form in the middle of the ocean.
And it was drawing Kairi and Akira in...
"Oh drat and blast!" Morgana crossed her arms. "The storm is nowhere NEAR strong enough!"
"Well, you might have been able to make it strong enough, if you hadn't used the last of Ursula's magic on the shrimp." Undertow shot back. Morgana glared at him.
"You're pushing it, small fry." The caldron started to glow again. Morgana headed towards them. "It's split them up! Miss Sweetness and light is by Atlantica!"
"What about the loud one?" Undertow asked, as Morgana suddenly shushed him.
"She's not far from here, so be quiet."
"Ow." Akira shivered slightly. "Well, this is chilly." She looked around. "Kairi? Kairi!?"
"Huh?" A young mermaid swam up to her. "Wow! Another mermaid! I can't believe this!" The girl giggled.
"Hi." Akira glanced around again. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Her name's Kairi. She can't be hard to miss, she's got a pink tail, have you seen her?"
"Nope, sorry." The girl shook her head. "You're the first mermaid I've seen. Hey!" She smiled as an idea came into her head. "I need to go on a journey, why don't you come with me? We can look for your friend on the way."
"Where are you going?"
"Atlantica." She smiled. "I need to take someone's trident back to them. Then they can make me a mermaid for good-" The girl stopped and slammed her hand over her mouth. "Oops."
"You're not really a mermaid?" Akira asked. The girl sighed and shook her head. "It's okay. Want to know a secret?" She paused before nodding. "I'm not either." Both girls grinned.
"Will you help me? I promise, I'll help look for your friend."
"Okay, sure. I have some experience with re-stealing things." Akira shrugged. "I'm Akira."
"And I'm Melody." Melody turned to swim. "Come on! I've managed to arrange a lift on a whale!"
"Seriously? On a whale?" Melody nodded. Akira burst into a grin so wide it looked like her face would split. "AWESOME!"
"Akira?" Kairi yelled, swimming around. "AKIRA?!"
"Melody?" Another mermaid swam around the corner. "Oh, hello."
"Excuse me, but you haven't seen a mermaid around here, have you?" Kairi asked. "Her name's Akira. Black curly hair, green eyes, pretty loud, kind of annoying?" The mermaid shook her hair.
"No, sorry. I'm looking for someone too. She's my daughter. Her name's Melody, black hair, green eyes?" Kairi shook her head, before frowning.
"Your name's not Arial, is it?"
"Yes, it is." The mermaid smiled, and Kairi started laughing. "Why?"
"I'm a friend of Sora's." At which Arial burst into a smile.
"Wow! That's brilliant! So, you must be from another world too!"
"Uh-huh." Kairi nodded.
"Would you help me look for Melody? I really need to find her, before the sea-witch does!"
"..... I thought she was dead."
"No child!" A crab swam up to Kairi. "It's Ursula's crazy sister! Morgana!"
"That's not good." Kairi said. She bit her lip and sighed. "Okay, I'll help. It's what Sora would have wanted."
"Let's see..." Melody and Akira studied the map intently. "OK, Atlantica is this way." Melody pointed at the etched out Atlantica on the map made of ice. "So we need to go south, right?"
"Think so." Akira frowned. "I mean, we are in the Arctic. There aren't really many other directions we could go."
"Mm." The whale jiggled a bit. "Is he o-"
"ACHOO!!!" The whale sneezed, sending a powerful gush of water out of his spout, sending both girls flying into the air.
"WHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" Both of them yelled, before slamming hard onto the ice.
Crack!
Both girls raised their heads in time to see the map land on the ice and shatter.
"The map," Melody sighed, picking up a piece. "It's ruined."
"Now how are we going to get to Atlantica?"
"Ha ta da da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Yelled a voice behind the duo, causing both girls to jump. "Damsels in distress?" A penguin appeared from behind a block of ice. "Mightier than a hurricane! Braver than a killer whale! Faster than a moray eel! It's the fearless adventurers-"
"Slash explorers!" Added a walrus, also appearing from behind the ice.
"Titanic Tip, and his mighty side-kick Dash!" Tip announced, beaming happily. The two girls exchanged looks.
"What do you think?" Melody whispered.
"I think if I were Dash, I'd sit on Tip for calling me a side-kick." Akira muttered under her breath, before raising her voice. "I'm Akira, and this is Melody."
"Do you think you could tell us the way to Atlantica?" Melody asked, causing the two adventurers slash explorers exchanged looks.
"Why do you want to get to Atlantica?" Dash asked.
"I..." Melody paused, looking at Akira, who shrugged. "Have to get something back that was stolen from a friend. If I don't, I'll turn back into..."
"Turn back into what?"
"A human."
"Ah!" Tip gave a massive gasp. "I knew there was something un-fishy about you! Tough break sisters! Give us a line, let us know how it all turns out."
"We'll take you." Dash said.
"You will?" Melody asked.
"We will?" Tip asked.
"They're damsels in distress. It's our chance!"
"Stop calling us damsels!" Akira added. Tip sighed.
"Oh boy. I can't believe I'm doing this, somebody stop me!" Nobody did. "Alright, we're in! ON TO ATLANTICA!!"
"I haven't heard anything." Kairi sighed. "Have you?"
"No," Arial shook her head. "I've been looking everywhere, but – Flounder!" Arial was distracted by a fish swimming nearby. She swam over and hugged it.
"DAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYY!!!!!" It yelled, wriggling out of Arial's grasp and swimming away fast.
"Now what?" An older, bigger fish appeared from behind the rock the fish had swam behind.
"Sorry." Said Arial, sadly.
"Arial!?" The big fish said.
"Flounder!?" Arial asked, swimming towards him.
"Arial!"
"Oh, I've missed you!"
"I've missed something." Kairi muttered, smiling slightly.
"Boy, you're sure not a guppy any more!"
"Yeah-" At which point, another small fish came swimming by, followed by four others.
"Children," Flounder warned. "What did I say about playing kick the crab on the reef?"
"Sorry dad." Muttered one.
"Heh heh. Kids!" Flounder grinned. This comment managed to plunge Arial into a pit of depression. "I'm sorry about Melody."
"Flounder," Arial sighed. "I really need your help right now."
"Wild sea-horses wouldn't stop me." The group swam off.
Less than ten seconds later, Melody, Akira, Tip and Dash swam past where they had been standing.
"What does it look like anyway?" Akira asked, as the group swam towards Atlantica.
"A giant fork."
"A giant fork?" Akira raised an eyebrow. Melody nodded. "How big is her china cabinet?"
"I don't know." Melody shrugged, as they swam towards one of the entrances into Atlantica. "All I know is that it's really powerful."
They swam into Atlantica, and down a long corridor. A large golden throne stood in the centre of the room, with mermen attending to what looked like a table on one side of the room.
"Nice crib." Tip whispered, before the group hid behind a large stone statue. The mermen swam away.
"Follow me." Whispered Melody, swimming over to the table and ducking underneath the tablecloth, followed by Tip, Dash, and Akira. They peeked out from underneath the cloth, as an elderly merman entered, downtrodden.
"That must be him." Melody whispered, before frowning. "He looks sad."
"Doesn't look like much of a thief to me." Akira added.
"They never do." Tip hissed.
"So you know a lot of thieves, do you?"
"There it is!" Melody whispered. Next to the throne was a stand, where a massive golden fork like thing sat. Akira frowned.
THINK Akira. You've seen something like this before... THINK!!
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Your face is all screwed u-" Melody started to point out, interrupted by a roar from the elderly merman.
"WE HAVEN'T TIME FOR THIS!!!" He bellowed, pointing at the table. "I WANT EVERY AVALIBLE MERMAN SEARCHING!! FIND HER!! FIND HER!!!"
Talk about male PMS!
"King Triton?" A slightly worried merman piped up. "Your daughter is here to see you." King Triton sighed and swam off.
"Now's our chance!" Akira hissed, as she and Melody swam over to the trident. "Quick, get it!" Melody reached out and grabbed the trident.
"Swim, swim away!" Tip hissed. The group swam out, but in the hurry, Melody dropped her necklace.
"Oh!" She spun around.
"No time!" Dash whispered. Akira grimaced and grabbed Melody's arm.
"We can come back and get it later! Now swim!"
Kairi swam into the throne room, semi paying attention to Arial and King Triton's conversation. At the moment, she was considering her situation with Naminé.
You've lost Akira. This is bad for two reasons. One, you need two people to fly the gummi ship. And two, she knew some stuff about Sora.
I am aware of that. Do you think she's oka-
"The trident!" Triton yelled, making Kairi jump. "It's gone!"
"... Are you sure you didn't just leave it down somewhere?" Kairi asked, before mentally slapping herself.
"Of course I didn't!"
"Melody's necklace." Arial suddenly said, picking up a golden pendent. "Only the kin of the King of the Seas could remove the trident from its rightful place."
The group was interrupted by a hissing noise. Kairi spun around to see to hammerhead sharks heading towards them.
"Oh heck..." Kairi muttered, summoning her keyblade and charging towards them.
One shark opened his mouth to bite Kairi, so she swam back slightly and hit it as it swam past. The second one swam behind her, so Arial hit it with her tail.
Can I drive underwater?
Don't think so.
"Gr..." Kairi scowled, and hit the first shark as hard as she could. It swam away, followed by the second one.
"Good." Arial smiled. Kairi's eyes widened as a group of heartless surrounded her and Arial.
"Oh..." Kairi slashed into one, and avoided the attack of another. "It's harder to fight underwater." She observed, as Arial hit two more heartless, which dissolved into darkness. Kairi slashed into one other, dodged, and then finished it off. Arial kicked the final heartless into oblivion.
"Heartless yet again?" Trition growled. "Why do they follow those infernal keys?"
"Hey!" Kairi scowled. "This isn't exactly a bundle of giggles, having a keyblade, it's a curse! It's not like we're wandering the worlds, 'Oh, let's go to a world and make lots of heartless appear there!'" There was a long silence, as Arial raised a single eyebrow. "Sorry." Kairi winced.
"We need to find Melody now, we're running out of time." Trition said, before swimming out of the palace.
Kairi raised her eyes to the ceiling.
Am I doing the right thing? Shouldn't I be focusing on looking for Sora? But Sora would help them... Oh, I don't know what to do!
Aerith: Where are Cloud and Sephiroth? SW: In a world of pain.
Tifa: Namely...?
SW: Airing cupboard. Anyway, I have found a brilliant song, it matches this story perfectly! It's written for Final Fantasy IX, but it also works for this! Here it is: .com/watch?v=qmbgCBZ86z4
Kairi: That song belongs to katethegreat19. Not SunflowerWielder.
SW: As Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy and Disney belong to Square Enix and Disney. I only own Kurane and Akira. That is all. Peace out, dudes and dudettes!
Aerith: Cloud and Sephiroth have broken out of the airing cupboard, and have that 'I'm going to kill someone' look.
SW: ............................................................................................ Damn it!