Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.


Ch.28 Aboard the Jolly Roger

After recovering from the fight with Dexal, Sora stood in front of the door to the next world. He just didn't know what to think anymore. Was that really Dexal they had fought? Why were they fighting, then? What... what was... "AAGH!" Sora suddenly screamed, holding his head in frustration. Donald and Goofy jumped and looked at him. "What is the world is going on?! Riku thinks I'm the bad guy, Dexal is back and working with the bad guys, and we still haven't found Naminé!" he ranted, about ready to start swinging at air again.

However, before he could do so, he was stopped by Jiminy, who said "Sora, please calm down! We won't be able to figure it out if we just stand here!" Behind him, Goofy nodded. "Jiminy's right. If we want to find Dexal, Riku or Naminé, then we need to keep looking!" he pointed out. Sora stopped at that, trembling in anger at not knowing why all his friends were no longer there. Some even choosing to leave. Just... "Why? Would they do this?" he thought aloud.

Donald and Goofy looked at each, before refocusing on Sora. They didn't have an idea as to why Dexal was doing this either. He could have just forgotten about their being friends, like with Riku. But that still didn't account for how Dexal was able to come back from the dead in the first place. They didn't know, and it was hurting all of them, to see someone they had fought with turn to the dark.

But still... they were right. If he was to know the truth, they had to go further into Castle Oblivion. "Come on, Sora. We can't give up now. We still have to bring all of them back," Donald said lowly. Sora slowly nodded, and looked up at the door. Maybe after getting through this world, they could get some answers.

With that in mind, he pulled out the card for their eight world, and held it up. The card burst apart into light- like Dexal once had, Sora morbidly noted- and the door opened. Together, the three of them walked forward.

On the other side of the door, they walked out a glowing portal that closed behind them. Almost instantly, they all had to brace themselves as the floor they were on completely shifted, making Donald shout as he fell over. "What the-?! Where are we?" Sora asked, looking around. Everything around them, from the floors and walls to the ceiling, was constructed entirely out of wood, with a few lanterns hanging here and there to provide light.

"The floors sure is unsteady. I can hear the ocean, too..." Goofy said, and they listened. He was right, faintly they could hear the sounds of lapping waves. Donald got back to his feet and perked up. "I know! We must be inside a ship!" he said. The others nodded, having come to that same conclusion. "Well, we'd better find a way out. But which way do we go?" he asked.

Rather than get an answer, the group was suddenly surrounded, as a trio of Shadows rose from the floor, while from above dropped the same number of Air Pirates. To top it off, three regular Pirates appeared, swords in hand. "Aw, great!" Sora said, while Donald and Goofy turned into cards. He quickly picked them up and put them away, before summoning Crabclaw. The Shadows flattened against the ground and raced for him, while the Pirates charged in with their swords.

Sora blocked one swing and shoved the Pirate into one of its companions, before turning and blocking a strike from the third. He countered with Freeze Raid, throwing the Keyblade while it was coated it ice, It struck the Pirate and the shoulder and left a large gash that quickly turned black with frostbite, while the Keyblade sailed past it to cleave a Shadow in two.

One of the Air Pirates took this chance to dive in with a large right hook, nailing Sora right in the back and making him fall forward. The other two Shadows took this chance to leap from on the ground and slash him across the chest in an X. Sora gritted his teeth and groaned in pain, but slapped a hand against the ground, Converting his fall into a roll, he got back to his feet and pulled out the Goofy card.

"Goofy!" he called, and called froth the Royal Knight. Goofy smirked at the Heartless and began spinning around, hitting anyone nearby with his shield. That was how one of the Pirates was dispatched, having bent sent flying onto the sword of another. One of the Air Pirates fell as well, having tried to attack but ended up smashed. Goofy vanished and the Shadow leaped into the air to attack from above. Sora simply held up the Crabclaw and one of them was impaled, before he swung and sliced the other at the waist.

Both Shadows dispersed into darkness, and Sora cast a pair of Firas at an Air Pirate. Both spells put together burned into a cinder, leaving just one Air Pirate and two Pirates, one of which was injured. The Pirates rolled forward, holding their swords out as they rolled, and Sora hurriedly jumped to the side to avoid them. But the Air Pirate was there, and hit him on the head with a hammer fist. Sora faltered, dazed, but reflexively dodged a swipe from one of the Pirates and countered with Gravira.

The spell flatted the Pirate and also yanked the Air Pirate out of the sky, letting Sora stab it in the chest. Then Sora cast Thundara and fried both the flattened Pirate and the injured one, ending them. With them gone, he panted and dismissed his Keyblade. Donald and Goofy reappeared, and with the ghost clear a moving golden light came down from above.

Donald shouted "Wak!" and pointed at it. To their surprise, it was not a moving light, but a tiny fairy with blonde hair, blue eyes and a green dress. "Who are you?" Sora asked. The fairy didn't respond- at least, they couldn't hear her- but she did start flying around them, Jiminy poked his head out, saying "maybe she's trying to help us, since we're lost." The fairy stopped and nodded, prompting Goofy to say "Looks like you're right!"

The fairy turned and flew, and the other followed her throughout the ship.


At the same time that Sora and the others were making their way through Neverland, Dexal sighed as he was being stared at by Marluxia. Neither of them had said anything to each other for almost a full minute, and the tension in the air was almost enough to cut a knife through. Naminé was sitting off the side as she always was, ready to run in case the two of them started bringing out the scythes and Keyblades. Larxene was standing next to her and eagerly watching the scene, waiting for some action.

Axel? He was lying on a couch, stuck somewhere between watching and sleeping.

"You mean to tell me that the child with the Keyblade actually beat you? Explain," the pinkette demanded, crossing his arms. Dexal sighed and chose not to copy the action, knowing it would only annoy his 'boss' that much more. "It is as I said. Sora used an attack that allowed him, Donald and Goofy to all attack at once, and I underestimated the power behind the attack. That's all," he replied.

Then Dexal frowned. "More to the point, why did you make the call to have Larxene and Axel pull me out? I thought you wanted to the child tested, not coddled with," he said. Marluxia's gaze narrowed, and the tension in the room grew. "I had you reigned in so that you would not permanently damage the hero. We need him able if he's going to be of any of use to us," he snapped.

"Any use to us? Or just you?" Dexal countered, now indeed crossing him arms. Marluxia's eyes widened in surprise, before turning into a steely glare that matched Dexal's. The both of them said nothing, sparks that were a lot less figurative than what was comfortable flying between them. Actually, Larxene was using her lightning abilities to make it so that they really were sparks between them. Not that either of them noticed.

Marluxia spoke slowly. "You're treading on a very large bed of thorns, here," he warned. Dexal chose not to scoff at the plant-related metaphor, and said "If any of the thorns decide to prick me, I'll simply incinerate them." Even Larxene was surprise as that, not having heard Dexal use such a direct threat in a while. The last time was when he got stuck on a recon mission with Demyx. Man, she'd probably kill that slacker before they finished.

Refocusing on the action at hand, Larxene saw the both of stare off for a few more seconds before they broke off at the same time, Marluxia looked at her. "What is Sora doing now?" he asked. In response, the Savage Nymph merely waved her hand, activating the Seeing Crystal and letting them watch.


Sora, Donald and Goofy had followed the small fairy, who was leading them to another part of the ship. However, once they got there, Sora paused. "Is it just me, or are all the rooms starting to look the same?" he asked. The others stopped too. Sora was right; they had been in this area before. Maybe even twice already. "Maybe we're just going in circles?" Goofy suggested. Donald grunted and looked at the fairy, saying "Some help she was."

The fairy flew up in front of Donald and glared at him, flying around his head angrily. "I think you might've ruffled her feathers, Donald," Goofy told him. But then they heard a new voice, a young male one that shouted "Tinkerbell, what are you doing?! You weren't supposed to bring the pirates with you!" They looked around for the source of the voice, when suddenly a boy in green tights with red hair flew- yes, flew- at them from above.

Sora was surprised enough at the sight of another person flying, but ignored in favor of rushing forward. He stopped when the boy pulled out a dagger, pointing it at Sora. "Stay back, pirates! Or this will be the last fight you pick!" he threatened. Donald stomped up to him. "What's the big idea!? We're not pirates! We're only here because..." he shouted, before stopping.

Looking back, the Court Magician asked "Umm... Why are we here, Sora?" Sora blinked. "Huh? How am I supposed to know, Donald? Goofy, what do you think?" he asked. Goofy shrugged. "Gawrsh, beat me," he said. The flying boy put the dagger away. "Okay, okay, I understand. I'm Peter Pan. Sora, Donald, and Goofy, right? I guess if you were real pirates, you wouldn't get lose on your own ship. Plus, you're dressed funny," he said bluntly.

"There you go again!" Donald shouted, but he was ignored. Sora perked up, adding two and two together. "Wait, so if you thought that we were pirates... This must be a pirate ship!" he declared. Peter Pan nodded. "That's right. You're trapped inside the Jolly Roger- ship of the old codfish, Captain Hook," he told them. "Well, if we're trapped, that means you are too!" Donald said.

Peter leaned back a bit as it hit with something. "Me? Don't be silly. No one can capture Peter Pan! I'm just laying low until it's time to spring my plan," he explained. Curious, Goofy asked "What plan is that?" Peter sighed. "The pirates kidnapped my friend Wendy. She's got to be somewhere on this ship," he said. Tinkerbell chose that moment to fly next to Peter. "I didn't expect there to be so many pirates on watch, though. I sent Tink to look for a way around... but all she found was you," he finished.

Tinkerbell flew in front of Sora and started circling him, waving her arms. Getting the idea, Sora said "I bet I know what Tink had in mind! If we all make a big enough racket, we can distract the pirates!" Tinkerbell stopped and nodding, smiling happily. "Gawrsh, you must've read her mind!" Goofy commented. Sora smiled. "So, how about it? Let's work together, at least until we get above deck," he offered.

Peter was silent for a moment, thinking. Eventually, he said "Well, why not? Of course, I could save Wendy myself if I wanted to. But you guys look like you'd be stuck without me." Before they could reply, he turned around and flew off. They all stared at where he had been, before Donald finally yelled "Don't you have any manners?!" Sora shook his head in exasperation. "Come on, we'd better get going," he said. The others nodded, and they hurried to follow after Peter.

Along the way, they were stopped several times by packs of Heartless, all of whom wanted to take a piece out of them. But they managed to persevere, and eventually made it to what appeared to be the food storage. When they went inside, they found a young girl, probably twelve or thirteen years old, with brown eyes, blue eyes, and a blue dress. Tinkerbell flew inside and started flying about, prompting Peter to call "There she is!"

Wendy looked up and stood, watching the door swing open and show all of them entering. "Peter? Peter Pan!" she called joyously. Peter smiled. "Wendy, are you all right? I've come to rescue you with my three new Lost Boys! C'mon, let's get off this leaky old tub and do some exploring!" he called. Wendy looked at floor at that, but he didn't notice, simply laughing. Ha ha! We'll never grow up!" he declared.

Wendy frowned. "Listen, Peter. I've got something to tell you," she said. Peter stopped and looked at her curiously. Wendy was silent for a moment, before taking a deep breath and looking up. "I want to go home to London," she stated. Peter froze, eyes going huge in shock. Sora and the others were surprised as well. Even if they didn't know where 'London' was, they could guess that it wasn't anywhere in Neverland.

"What are you talking about? Why would you want to do that?! You'd have to turn into a grown-up. Besides, going on adventures is a lot more fun!" Peter implored. Seeing that he was going nowhere, he added "If you go back to London, you'll have to leave the nursery. You'll grow up and we'll never see each other again!" Throughout they whole thing, his voice had been rising, until Peter was just shy of shouting at the end of it.

Wendy turned away. "I know, Peter. But... I still want to go home," she said. Peter looked at her, his expression turning to anger. "I came to rescue you! And you don't care if you ever see me again!" he said. Wendy gasped and faced him again. "No, you don't understand!" she called. But Peter was done listening, and rose into the air. "Suit yourself! And while you're at it, rescue yourself! I'm leaving," he said, and flew out of the room.

"Hey, wait a minute-!" Sora started. But by then he was already gone, and Donald muttered "There he goes." Wendy looked down at floor, closing her eyes. "Peter..." she said sadly. Sora groaned. "Not very thoughtful, is he? What do we do now?" he thought aloud. For a moment no one said anything, until Goofy said "Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't we think of something once we get up on deck?" Donald looked at him. "That doesn't make any sense... I think," he said.

"Well, there's still trouble waiting outside. Wendy, you stay here. We'll try and create a distraction," Sora said. Wendy was fine was that, and nodded. "All right, Please, be careful," she told them. "Maybe if you stay here, peter will change his mind and come back!" Goofy added. "I hope so..." Wendy muttered, though they heard. With a plan in mind, they left the room to begin making their way above deck.


FINALLY! I have managed to get this chapter through and post it. A smidgeon shorter than what I'm used to, but I'm still trying to apply for scholarships and whatnot. So, yeah. But now the group has begun the journey in Neverland. Can they face the dastardly pirate with one hand and crocodyliphobia? And what about Dexal and Marluxia? How much more will they butt heads? Stay on board to find out!

Please review! If you flame me Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)