Chapter 12
"Fire!" Kairi and Tenna shouted together making an X symbol in front of their bodies with their arms, and a ring of flames encircled both of them.
"Good," Donald said. "Now for Thunder and Blizzard."
"Blizzard!" shouted Kairi, pointing her Keyblade at a stump. A large snowflake shot from her weapon, freezing the wood.
"Thunder!" Tenna yelled, raising her right arm. The stump was shot with a single lightning bolt and burnt to a crisp. The picture at the edge of her vision also had an arc of blue that apparently represented magic, because a hefty chunk was now gone.
"Excellent, Kairi!" the duck said, clearly pleased.
"What about me?" Tenna asked.
"Eh… It was decent…"
"I love you, too."
Sora appeared with Goofy, his eyes focused on a finger trap Lilo had given him. "I'll get it… one way… or another…" he said, pulling his fingers apart, only to make it tighter. "Man, this thing is impossible!"
"I got mine first try," Goofy said. "I can tell ya how to—"
"I can do it! I almost have it! Just… gimme a second… Almost… Nah…" His shoulders slumped. "How's the magic coming along?"
"Really well," Tenna said, looking at the contraption. "Finger trap? Here, lemme see."
"Nuh-wanna-do-it!" Sora whined, causing Tenna to feel a bit uncomfortable and back away.
"Sora, you're obviously not getting anywhere by doing that," Kairi said, "Just let her help you."
"Muh-fine…" he said, holding his finger-trapped hands out. She easily got them out.
"There. Now you know how to do it for next time."
"Um, actually, I wasn't watching."
"Wha—Fer… Nrrgh…" Tenna placed her palms on her temples in frustration. "Well, next time you have one of those, you're on your own." She grinned wryly.
"OK. Hey, check this out." Sora said, pulling out a pair of pompoms from his pockets. "Lilo gave them to me. I love them."
There was a small pause. "You're totally random."
"It's not random, they opened a new door. Goofy, Riku and I went back to the ship, and we get to go to Radiant Garden now. You get to meet Leon and Cloud and Yuffie, and Aerith… and lots of other people." He shook the pompoms wildly with glee.
"But what about Ailie and that guy that's chasing Stitch, or whatever his name is? We're just going to leave them?"
"It always turns out that no matter how long we're away, they won't make their move until we get back. Don't ask me how it works, it's just some sort of law. They can't do anything if we're not here."
Tenna grinned. "Then we should get going. Let me take care of something first."
She walked around the demolished tree stump to a metal beam shaded by tree branches. Hanging off the beam by her feet was Ailie, taking a daytime nap. "Are you sure you want to stay here?" she asked softly. The girl shifted a bit and let out a low "Mm-hm…"
"You know they can come at you when you're not expecting it…"
"I don't wanna put you in danger…"
"Wouldn't it be better if you stayed with a big group of people?" Tenna asked, "He sounds powerful…"
"That's the point." Her friend turned her head to look at her with those alien eyes. "I'd rather just go quietly rather than put you all in danger…"
"Alright." Tenna reached up and placed her hand on her best friend's shoulder. "But be careful. And try not to get caught just so you can give up and stop running." She smiled. "That means you need to hide. I'll try to get back when this is all over, and we can go back to Cielle together, and you'll be your old self." She let her hand drop, and began to walk away.
"Goodbye…" Ailie quietly called.
Tenna turned around and smiled again. "Goodbye. I know we'll see each other soon."
"Yeah…"
She slowly strode away, watching her feet take reluctant steps toward the ship.
