"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread."
"Check out the shops, too, when you come back to visit! They've got some pretty neat stuff."
I was standing in front of the world gates with Sora and the others. Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie met us there with a basket of all sorts of goods and tons of advice for our incoming adventure. "Here, this is from all of us," Aerith smiled sweetly and handed me the basket. It was filled with a pouch of munny and plenty of potions for whenever we got hurt. "Use these as you see fit. Oh, and... this is from Leon."
The older woman slipped a glass container into the basket, which was an expensive looking elixir for dire situations.
They wished us luck in our journey to find our friends and the king of some world far away. Not only that, but we were inspired to watch out for one another. This was the start of a grand adventure together as friends. The main goal may have been to search for Riku and Kairi, for Sora and I, but we were also being dragged into the mission of saving the worlds from darkness. It sounded a little dangerous for a couple of teenagers, but it was what it was.
"The gummi ship is outside that gate," Donald pointed to the exit.
"The what?" Sora asked.
I cocked my head to the side in confusion.
"I think I've heard of those in my dad's letters, but... what exactly is a gummi ship?" I added.
"That's our ship," Donald said, putting his hands on his hips.
Goofy jumped up and clicked his heels excitedly, saying, "Wait 'til you see it!"
However, his excitement was busted when Donald pushed him aside. "Hold on a second," the duck stopped the cheerful moment. "If you two want to be useful, then you're going to need to learn a few things."
"A few things more than swinging the Keyblade?" I raised a brow and waved my arm around as if I was using my Keyblade.
Of course that was what Donald was getting at. He went on to explain to the two of us what he had in mind, and it took me by surprise. First, Donald displayed his own use of a power I thought to be nonexistent.
Magic.
Donald shot out a fireball into the brick wall so that no one got caught up in the flames, which was the spell he was intent on teaching us. It was scary trying to get the flames to ignite in our hands, but we learned that it was not a self-harming technique. At least, that was what Donald claimed. I was sure that what I saw in the Third District was a backfired spell, but who was I to judge?
I was just glad that I attained the power of fire. Now, we were able to use magic, too.
Since we still had some time on our hands, Goofy taught us a little bit about evasion maneuvers that were sure to help us in the heat of battle. Both were gifts from our new friends, and we were thankful for their kindness in teaching us. These new abilities were sure to make the challenges ahead a lot easier.
"All right, I think that's it," Sora yawned and stretched his arms behind his head. "Let's get going!"
"Not 'til we're ready!" Donald quacked angrily, pointing at the extra munny.
It was meaningless bickering, but I let it go with the boys. I simply stood off to the side and waited for them to finish up so that we could go. While I was standing there, I felt a light weight on my right shoulder. I looked down and saw a fancy looking cricket standing on me. Has he been with us this whole time? I wondered quietly.
"Well, lass, I see big adventures coming your way," he said, adjusting his ascot. "Looks like it'll be up to me to keep track of it all in my journal. If there's anything you want to know more about, just let me know!"
"O-Oh, thank you," I smiled sheepishly.
As soon as everyone had their fill of preparation, we headed out the gates to get to the gummi ship. It was roomy inside, and Goofy gave us a tour in the ship so that we felt comfortable. We joined up in the cockpit and got seated for liftoff, but they gave Sora and I a little tutorial on the controls. In my mind, I hoped that Donald would let us pilot the gummi ship someday. Maybe not now, because we were still inexperienced. But, it would be amazing to fly it around space.
Occasionally popping up on a monitor were a couple of chipmunks named Chip and Dale. They were skilled with what they did, which was managing business with the gummi ship so that we all knew what was going on.
It was going to be a pleasant journey, or so I thought. The route we took to get to the next world was littered with enemy ships that tried ramming into us. Thanks to the pilot, Donald, we were able to blast through them without too much trouble and soon arrived at our destination.
The colorful world came into view after a short trip through space, which Chip called the ocean of stars.
"Hey, is that the world we're going to?" Sora unbuckled his safety belt and looked over the pilot's seat to see the great view. "What is that?"
"The map says it's Wonderland," Goofy scratched his head, reading off of a small sized paper that was apparently a map of the area.
Donald used his magic to send us down to Wonderland and secure the gummi ship in a safe place. I had to point out to him that there were some inaccuracies, because we were falling into a deep pit after disembarking. To our surprise, an invisible force prevented us from falling uncontrollably and we floated down the massive hole. Before reaching the bottom, a few of us thought it was a good idea to do a few flips and tricks. Poor Goofy was unaware that we were already at the end and landed on his back as soon as the floating stopped.
I landed on my feet and looked around the area. Everything was so... unusual. The pictures were crooked and lacked fine taste. What furniture there was blended into the wallpaper and ground. Just what kind of a world was Wonderland, anyway?
"Wha?!" I yelped and nearly fell to the ground when a white rabbit shoved through my legs to hurry on ahead.
The rabbit was dressed in a tuxedo and had a large watch in his hands as he scurried along.
"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" the rabbit huffed. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"
He was in such a hurry and did not seem to mind us as we watched him go around a corner. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" he continued to worry. "I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"
"Okay," I folded my arms across my chest and looked on with a confused expression. "That was a little weird."
"Come on, let's follow him!" Sora ran after the rabbit, followed by Donald and Goofy. I pursed my lips but sprinted after them reluctantly. As uninterested as I was about the rabbit, it might have been worth looking into. I was a little more concerned with this queen. Why would she want to punish someone for just being late?