Me: Okay! We got ourselves a flashback here! And Sora meets Ariel and her father!

Flashback:

"Riku! Riku!" Sora shouted excitedly as she ran up to the twelve year old. "Kairi an' me found this awesome spot! Come check it out!"

"Sure but first-Hey, wait!" Riku shouted as Sora dragged him off but eventually he was running with the hyperactive Sora as they went to the west of the island.

"Hey!" Kairi grinned at them. "You up for some swimming?"

Riku raised his eyebrows at Sora. "Funny. I don't remember you mentioning swimming."

Sora grinned, scratching the back of her head nervously. "I forgot…Anyway, come on! It's really amazing!"

Riku rolled his eyes but the three of them launched into the water and Sora lead the way to the underwater plant garden, where hundreds (okay, maybe she was exaggerating) of fish swam in all colours and sizes.

There was sponge plants in orange, yellow, red and even purple and the coral emerged in some spots where the sun shined the most. Down on the sand below were oyster shells and clam shells and even a couple of crabs crawling around.

As they all emerged around half a minute later, Sora and Kairi grinned at Riku, who seemed impressed.

"I didn't think you could hold your breath for so long, Sora." Riku grinned.

Sora threw some water at him.

End Flashback

"Wow…" Donald gasped as Goofy finally stopped rolling and they all took the chance to look at the scenery.

"This reminds me of my island." Sora admitted, grinning a bit though she felt a touch of sadness when she realised the underwater garden she, Riku and Kairi played at probably disappeared with the rest of her island.

But we can get it back.

"Don't worry Sora." Goofy smiled. "I'm sure we'll-"

"Run!"

A voice with a weird male accent suddenly interrupted Goofy and the trio turned to where they heard the voice come from.

The whole clearing was surrounded by rock of coral, leaving no way out except upwards or through a small cave they hadn't noticed earlier. Though that cave came a crab with the weird voice they had heard earlier, along with a actual mermaid and a fish stripped yellow and blue.

"Who're you?" the mermaid (she had long red hair that flowed behind her back and a green fin.

"Ariel, now's not the time!" the crab yelled. "Those creatures are getting closer and these strangers might be allies with them!"

Creatures…?

Sora's eyes widened as she caught sight of the heartless and she looked at Donald and Goofy, who quickly got out their weapons. Summoning her keyblade, Sora's eyes narrowed in concentration.

If there's any-a-time to learn to swim as a mermaid, it'll be now!

Sora launched forward and though she did it awkwardly, she managed to smash her keyblade into the first of three heartless.

The heartless looked like jellyfish except they had the heartless emblem on them and seemed bent on trying to attack them near their hearts, as if to take them.

Stupid fin! Gah! I can swim fine with two legs but why can't I swim good with one leg?! It shouldn't make that much of a difference!

"Sometimes, to defeat an enemy, you have to be quicker and smarter." Leon told her.

And Sora didn't need any more mental reminders.

"FIRE!" Sora shouted and to her utmost relief, fire exploded from her keyblade and shot the other two heartless while Donald and Goofy took care of the reinforcements that had arrived.

Man, Leon's words are really saving my behind…Meh, I'll just have to get better so I think instantly on what to do if I'm ever in trouble.

"That was amazing!"

Sora grinned bashfully as the mermaid the crab had called 'Ariel' came towards them, eyes shining in awe.

"It was nothing." Sora smiled.

"Who're you?" the crab asked suspiciously, quickly coming in front of Ariel and keeping her back. "I've never seen you before."

Oh no! Think quickly! That stupid rule about non-interference means we can't say anything about coming from another world! Think! Think!

"Ah…I'm Sora, that's Donald and he's Goofy…" Sora introduced them all as she stared at the red crab who was still scowling. "We ah…Come from ah… far away…And we're not really used to these waters…"

"Oh!" the girl mermaid seemed delighted. "I'm Ariel, that's Sebastian (the crab) and this is Flounder (the fish). Welcome to Atlantica!"

"Yeah.." Sora smiled as Ariel swam around her in a circle, studying her.

"You seem a bit different…" Ariel smiled, eyeing her curiously. "Is that how you swim in your waters?"

"Yeah…" Sora nodded again as Donald came towards her. "Like I said, we're not really used to swimming here…"

"You'll get the hang of it! If you want to swim like us, just push your tail fin back and forth." Ariel smiled. "Anyway, thanks for taking care of those creatures."

"It was no problem." Goofy grinned, rolling around in the air as he tried to control his movement in the water.

"What brings you here anyway?" Ariel asked curiously.

"We're looking for the-" Sora began just as Donald shut her mouth.

I was just going to say 'keyhole' but I guess even that's not allowed…

"Hmm?" Ariel tilted her head as she stared at them. "Oh-it's a secret?"

"Yeah…" Sora nodded as Donald shook his head in exasperation. "Sorry."

"That's okay." Ariel smiled. "My dad's the king of these waters though. I'm sure he'll be able to help you-after all, he knows a lot. Why don't you come with us back to the palace?"

Sora looked at Donald and Goofy, Donald who seemed like he didn't like the idea but was out of other options and Goofy who seemed he didn't mind whatever they did.

"Sure!" Sora grinned.

And who knows-maybe the king of the waters does know where the keyhole is! I mean, somebody has to, right?

At the Palace:

The palace was amazing, a mix of purple, blue and green lights as they swam closer and closer (yes, Sora was finally getting the hang of controlling her tail fin). Fortunately, the heartless didn't follow them as the reached the palace but unfortunately for Sora, there was no other mer-people for her to see (this was a childhood myth she was encountering, after all!).

"We still shouldn't be asking about the keyhole." Donald mumbled, a frown on his face. "I say we just look around-"

"You know that's waste time!" Sora shot back. "Besides, it's not like he'll know what we're talking about if he doesn't know what the keyhole is! We can just say we're looking for some legendary treasure or something and it's found there!"

"Ah…fellas?" Goofy asked and they stopped swimming and bickering, turning to Goofy who was pointing in front of them. "I think Ariel's dad already heard everything…"

Both Donald and Sora gasped and took a step (swam a step?) backwards as they saw the tough looking but long white bearded merman standing in front of them, a huge golden fork like weapon by his side.

"Unfortunately, I do know what you're talking about." The man scowled as Ariel stood by the side. "But I will have nothing to do with it!"

Wait-why? We're here to protect the keyhole!

"Daddy-" Ariel began but her father cut her off, scowling once more at Ariel this time.

"I thought I told you to stay inside the palace?!" he glared. "How many times to I have to tell you? Those creatures can't get inside so stay here where you're safe!"

Ariel glared back before turning and running away, grabbing Sora's hand and dragging her along.

"A-Ariel, wait!" Sora panicked as they swam further away from the palace. "It's not safe!"

They were passing a wide underwater canyon, leaving a lot of light to see so they didn't get lost and Sora could see small underwater volcanoes as well as giant clams and she even saw a dolphin swimming around a lower part of the canyon.

"My father was just exaggerating." Ariel frowned as they swam along. "I'm sorry what he said. I'll help you look for this 'keyhole' thing, was it?"

"But your dad-" Sora began concerned but Ariel only smiled.

"Don't worry about it." Ariel shook her head. "He never listens to me. He won't let me go explore the outside world or anything."

Sora startled at this. "You want to explore the outside world?"

She's just like I am…Like I was…I can explore…

"Yeah." Ariel smiled, unknowing to Sora's inner guilt.

Here she is hoping to go to the outside world and I'm pretending I'm from another ocean and tricking her when I'm from the outside world…

"Here we go!" Ariel smiled, pushing across a rock.

"Wait till you see it!" Flounder smiled at them as he swum in after Ariel.

They seemed to have entered some sort of spiraling coral. Dozens upon dozens of items were placed upon parts of the corals-treasure chests, statues, necklaces. All types of things that could fall into the ocean by mistake.

"These are all from the outside world…" Ariel smiled as she turned to look at them. "I wish I could-"

Ariel broke off silently as she really, really got a glance at her items.

Sora blanched as she finally noticed too.

Everything was trashed, damaged or broken.

Ariel's father, King Triton, stood in the corner glaring at Ariel.

"What…?" Ariel mumbled, her voice faltering at the end.

"You left again?!" her father glared. "I told you to stay-"

"These were all the things Flounder and I collected!" Ariel shouted, tears coming out of her eyes. "This…This is too much!"

With that last thought, she turned and swam out the grotto without a second look. There was silence for a moment before Sora finally found her voice and clenched her fists.

This is much worse than Riku, Kairi and I faced! At least the adults on our island let us dream! Sure, they forbid us from leaving too but they never destroyed our stuff!

Me: Sora becomes sympathetic with Ariel and the water darkens (you know, cause' Ursala's coming)

Sora: ...that was the lamest joke.

Me: *smiles happily* I know!