Chapter XXIV; Friendship Circle
Y spun her glider beside Ven a laugh escaping her lips as she did so. Ven laughed as he watched her flip and spin in the empty space. Her laughter was continuously bubbling out every time she moved her glider. She softly bumped her glider into Ven's and laughed before pulling away from him. Ven laughed once again with a shake of his head. Y tapped the other side of his glider suddenly before pulling back again. Ven laughed as he chased after her, tapping the back of her glider with his own. Y let out a giggle as she turned to chase after Ven.
This continued for some amount of time. Y and Ven took turns chasing each other through the space around them. Their laughter rung out around them as they played in the lanes between. It was just like before all the chaos had begun. Just a simple game between two friends who were still just children.
Very suddenly Ven stopped and looked ahead. Y stopped and glanced at him having heard his laughter stop.
"Huh? What's that?" Ven asked. Y looked in the direction Ven was looking. She didn't see anything.
"What's what?" Y asked. She turned to look back at Ventus. As she did so whatever it was Ven had been looking at flew past them. Y snapped her head towards the object trying to figure out what it was. She quickly identified it as some kind of Unversed by the symbol it bore on its body.
"Whoa! Unversed!" Ven said in shock. Y couldn't blame him. They had never really seen Unversed while in the lanes between. It seemed like a strange place for them to be. She had thought the lanes were blocked off to all but the keyblade wielders.
The giant Unversed turned back around and rushed past Ven and Y again. It was closer than before, using its tentacles to try and hit the two. Y quickly realized the blue almost jellyfish-like Unversed was trying to knock them off their gliders.
"Try that again." Ven challenged the Unversed, preparing to take it out. Y rolled her eyes at Ven's taunt.
"I think it just might." Y said warily. Before the Unversed was given the chance to repeat its action Ven attacked the creature with his glider.
It was more difficult than Y thought it would be to fight the Unversed. It was probably because they had never had to fight while on their gliders. It had always been smooth sailing. With the sudden attack, Ven and Y weren't prepared. Ven did his best to attack with the glider. Y hung back and cast magic from her place. It worked well enough, if not the best.
The Unversed very suddenly left the battle. It flew away heading toward a spaceship that Y hadn't noticed until seconds before.
"Trying to catch a ride huh?" Ven said as he followed after it. Y followed him without a word. She was too busy looking over the ship. It was huge. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it until now. She wondered where it had come from and if it was capable of traveling worlds. There had to be a reason it was in the lanes between.
On the ship, the two found themselves in a round room. There was some kind of circular object in the center. Y didn't know what it was for and she was sure she'd never figure it out. The room was empty though, with no sign of the Unversed they had followed onto the ship.
The two friends hardly had time to look around when a harsh voice from behind caught their attention.
"So you're the intruders. Identify yourselves." The voice demanded. Y turned to see a giant humanoid whale-like creature holding some sort of weapon facing toward them. Y blinked in surprise looking over the whale-like creature. She had never seen something so strange in the entire time they had been exploring the worlds.
"He's a whale." Y whispered in disbelief to Ven. Ven held in a snicker at her childish words. He looked up at the whale creature calmly.
"My name's Ventus, she's Y." Ven introduced calmly. "The monster we were chasing boarded your ship." He explained. The whale scoffed at Ven. Y frowned at that reaction. Did he think they were lying?
"Nice try. If there was another intruder aboard, we'd have detected it." The whale said with a smirk. Y frowned and opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by the entire ship shaking and an alarm going off.
"Intruder in the machinery bay! We've lost control of the engines! I-its some kind of monster!" A panicked voice said over an intercom system. Y looked up at the ceiling then looked back at the whale creature.
"Like that?" Y asked. The whale ignored her.
"Now you tell me." The whale muttered to himself. He turned his back on Ven and Y, apparently deciding they weren't as big a problem as he had originally thought they were. "Stay right there! I have lots of unpleasant questions to ask you." He snapped over his shoulder. He left the room without a further word.
"This is our fault, we have to do something." Ven said turning to Y. Y nodded in agreement.
"Let's find the machinery bay then." She said. The two went toward the door the whale had left out quickly. They had no idea where this machinery bay was but they assumed following the whale would be the fastest way to find it.
They were stopped when a blue creature dropped down in front of them. It didn't look quite like any animal Y had ever seen. It had big ears and antenna between his ears. Along his back were antenna-like protrusions. He had six legs and a short tail that looked almost like a rabbits. He wore an orange suit of some kind.
"Oh my god, this is the cutest thing I have ever seen." Y said as she looked at the small blue creature. She had no idea what it was actually called, but she decided she was calling him Fluffy until she learned his real name.
"Ven...? Terra... Ah-koo, wah... Y." Fluffy said the words sounding forced and awkward. It took Y a moment to realize what he had said. It was their names. All four of her friends.
"What? You know Terra and Aqua?" Ven asked in shock. He knelt down, putting his hands on his knees so he could talk to Fluffy more easily. Fluffy replied by pulling out a vaguely star-shaped object that looked to be made of objects that could be found just lying around the spaceship. "What's that?" Ven asked. Y smiled and knelt down, taking out her pink wayfinder charm and holding it out beside Fluffy's.
"Fren... circle!" Fluffy said. Y smiled and nodded.
"That's right, a wayfinder." She said softly. Fluffy nodded looking at Y with his big black eyes. Y could hardly believe this creature was so cute. It was even trying to make friends with them.
Y was jolted from her thoughts when the ship shook again. She looked around in confusion as Ven stood straight beside her. Fluffy looked around as well, seeming confused by the sudden movement.
"The engines are under too much stress. We're risking an explosion!" The same voice from earlier said over the intercom. She sounded much more panicked this time.
"What are we doing? There's no time!" Ven said. Y nodded and got to her feet. The two ran past Fluffy toward the door. Y stopped when she realized the small creature was following them. Ven stopped as well and turned to face Fluffy.
"No! You need to stay here. It's too dangerous." Ven said. He didn't take the time to say anything more and just ran off. Y felt a tightness in her chest watching him. It was so much like what Aqua and Terra had done to them. Y looked at Fluffy and smiled softly.
"We'll be right back, just wait here for us." Y said. She smiled once again before running after Ven. The tightness in her chest only grew worse. Was this what aqua felt every time she told them to go home? Or was it just because she had been in the same situation as Fluffy.
They made it to the machinery bay after a lot of wandering around the ship. The Unversed seemed to be circling a big beam of light that might have had something to do with the engine. Vena and Y came to a stop not far from the light beam their keyblades drawn.
"End of the line." Ven said as they came to a stop. The Unversed stopped its circling and stopped in front of them. Y didn't know why it did. Perhaps it was looking for a fight. She was beginning to think the Unversed enjoyed fighting keybearers.
There was a sudden explosion above them that made Ven and Y look up. As they did Fluffy fell from the ceiling and landed beside them. Y blinked a few times while Ven stepped back.
"Hey! You shouldn't be here." Ven said angrily. Y shot Ven a glare.
"Ven, he just wants to help." Y said softly. Ven looked at Y and met her eyes. He frowned and looked away toward the Unversed. Y suspected he realized what she had. Fluffy was just acting like they did. He couldn't sit back and watch any more than they could. Fluffy growled and started sounding like he might be talking in a different language.
"What is it?" Ven asked looking to Fluffy. He was ignored by the alien creature.
Before Ven could try to press for an answer the Unversed became sick of waiting for them to move. It took the combined effort of the three of them to take down the Unversed. Ven handled up close attacks as always. Fluffy was able to shoot at the Unversed from all over the room. Y hung back, usually not far from Fluffy and used her usual magic.
The Unversed eventually fell. Y was beginning to get annoyed with the strength of these creatures. They just kept getting stronger. And that worried her. What if that meant their leader was growing in strength? What if the masked boy got so strong he couldn't be beaten? Y was pulled from her thoughts when she saw Fluffy still growling and yelling at the now gone Unversed in his strange language.
"It's over! Cut it out." Ven said.
"Ven," Y warned as Ven stepped forward trying to calm Fluffy down. Despite his attempts, Fluffy continued to be angry lashing out at nothing. He lashed out against Ven knocking the boy over.
"Whoa!" Ven said as he fell backward. Fluffy seemed to calm down after hearing Ven fall. Y frowned and crouched in front of Fluffy.
"What's wrong?" Y asked softly. Fluffy stood on his hind legs and pulled out broken pieces of his wayfinder. Y pressed her lips together in a thin line and looked over the wayfinder. She wasn't sure how it had been broken. And she wasn't sure she could fix it. Aqua would have been better for that.
"I see, your wayfinder broke. Well, don't worry. Friendship's more than an object." Ven said with a soft smile. Fluffy looked up at him with his head tilted to the side. His ears panned around as if listening for something.
"Fren-ship cir-cle?" Fluffy asked. Y smiled at him.
"Friendship circles are made with your heart, not your hands." Y explained. Ven nodded in agreement beside her. Fluffy looked up at them seeming to consider their words.
"Hmph, don't let the little mimic fool you. You saw for yourself what kind of monster that thing is. All it knows how to do is hurt and destroy." Ven and Y turned to see the whale guy from earlier.
"Monster? He helped us stop the monster!" Ven objected.
"And we know those are monsters." Y said. She glanced to Fluffy who was bristling at the sight of the whale guy. She didn't know what his problem with the little guy was, but she didn't care. Fluffy was kind enough.
"You must have triggered some sort of mutation hidden in the little freak's genetic coding." The whale guy objected. Y frowned at his words. He was needlessly unkind. What had Fluffy done to him?
"Ven. Y. Frens!" Fluffy said quickly stepping forward just a small bit.
"That's right. We are friends!" Ven agreed. Y nodded in agreement.
"Better say your goodbyes now, because 626 is about to be destroyed!" The whale said training his gun on Fluffy. supposed 626 was his actual name but she didn't like that as much. Fluffy quickly jumped onto the whales face causing the whale to stumble back. "Stop that!" The whale yelled as Fluffy pulled him to the round somehow.
"C'mon." Ven said before taking off running. Y and Fluffy followed without question. Glancing over her shoulder Y heard the whale call for reinforcements. She hoped Ven had an escape plan.
By some miracle, the three of them managed to get off the ship. Ven and Y had their keyblade armor on while Fluffy was in a red cruiser he had stolen from the ship. They were being chased by multiple other cruisers.
"Yee-ha!" Fluffy yelled gleefully from inside his cruiser. Y laughed a little at his reaction. She wondered how long it had been since he had been free. Or if he ever even had been.
Behind them, the cruisers were shooting some sort of lasers at them. Fluffy laughed each time they missed and honked his horn.
"Where are we going?" Ven asked looking to Fluffy. Inside his cruiser, Fluffy pulled up a knob of some kind. Y couldn't hear anything but Fluffy was clearly listening to something. He pushed the knob back down.
"Break formation! Get clear!" One of the police chasing them ordered. Y looked around as all the other cruisers pulled away from them.
"That can't be good." Y said looking back to Ven and Fluffy.
"What is it? What's going on?" Ven asked. Fluffy tried to answer but before he could the cruiser shot forward. Waves of energy rolled off the ship sending Ven and Y spiraling through space.
"Whoa!" Ven yelled. Y yelled several different choice words that she would never use in front of Aqua. The ripples continued rolling sending the two into space with no control of where they would land.