Alright everyone, this chapter is the last for this world. But it does introduce a key character into the series, whom will play an even larger role than before. ;) So I hope you all enjoy and just bare with me on this whole whale's anatomy thing cause I'll explain it in my end note.


Inverted Sky

Chapter 29: Monstro part II

For almost half an hour, Sora wandered almost aimlessly through the stomach of the giant whale. Her groaning lightly as she had yet to find Pinocchio, or even spot Donald and Goofy for that matter. This making her sigh in response as she eventually stopped; "Ugh…I'm serious getting tired of this smell." she muttered to herself while pinching her nose.

Yet after just a few breaths through her mouth, she slapped a hand over her mouth and released her nose. "Oh gross…I can pretty much taste it now." the teen muffled out as she gagged briefly.

Though as she slowly continued on, she heard the sound of something wooden moving to the side. It coming from yet another chamber of the whale's stomach, of which Sora had gone through four of already. She then rushed in this direction and into the next area of the large mammal, to which she saw Pinocchio looking from side to side. Sora raising a brow briefly to him, yet she quickly figured out that he was likely lost and had no idea of how to get back.

The teen sighed to this and walked up to the living puppet; "Hey Pinocchio, can't find your way out of here?" she asked in order to gain his attention.

As Pinocchio turned to her with blinking eyes, he nodded his head in response. This made Sora walk over to him and give a small smirk, to which she patted him on the head gently. "Don't worry, I studied with Merlin and I know what the gastrointestinal tract looks like for many different animals, including a whale's." she muttered before clearing her throat, which showed her dislike toward the subject of 'Animal Biology'.

"S-So...I can take you back easily." Sora added quickly as she started leading the puppet toward the exit of the chamber.

"But what made you run off like that to begin with?" she continued with a glance and raised brow toward Pinocchio.

"Hmm?" the wooden boy hummed with a tilt of his head, yet he soon paused in his steps and smirked lightly.

"Oh! I was playing hide-and-seek!" he announced, causing the brown-haired girl to stop as well and blink back to him in response.

"Huh? 'Hide-and-seek'? With who?" she questioned while taking her turn in tilting her head to the side.

"With me." a familiar voice spoke up from behind Sora, to which she quickly turned toward her friend as he just smirked.

"Riku!" she called out with a wide grin as she then rushed over to him.

The teen then took on an amused smile as she then placed her hands on her hips; "Don't tell me you got swallowed up too...I figured that you'd be 'too cool' for that." she commented as her tone clearly matched her expression.

Riku just huffed to her briefly before slowly smirking lightly and crossing his arms; "So says the other person who got swallowed up by the whale." he stated quickly.

"Oh yeah? Well I wasn't the one who was driving, so it's not really my fault anyway." Sora retorted as she took on an almost proud expression.

"Well I wasn't..." Riku began, yet stopped himself as to show that he was rethinking his response.

"Yes~?" the brown-haired girl all but sang out in a teasing way, however, she knew that something was strange about her friend's sudden appearance inside the whale.

"Well at least I wasn't the one who studied about animals' gastrointestinal tracts." the teen boy claimed, which made Sora tilt her head down in defeat.

"I didn't ask to study it...Merlin just wanted me to since I have to take care of Zola." she muttered silently with a tone that made it clear she didn't want to talk about the subject.

Riku sweat dropped to this in response before clearing his throat and patting her shoulder; "Alright alright...I guess that was a bit much." he said with a heavy sigh, though he soon looked up in thought.

"Though...who is 'Zola'?" the silver-haired boy questioned while blinking his eyes.

"My baby leopard." Sora responded in a simple manner, of which made it difficult for her friend to understand what she just said for a brief few seconds.

"Wait what?!" he asked with wide eyes as he took a step backward.

The brown-haired girl blinked to him for a moment before shrugging her shoulders; "I found her in one of the worlds I visited...so I took her with me." she said, her voice and tone still making her words sound like she was talking about a simple matter.

"R-Right. I knew you had been making some weird friends, but now it's just getting crazy." Riku muttered as he cleared his throat lightly and shook his head.

"Anyway...did you find Kairi? We were actually head to Traverse Town to see if you had been there just before we were eaten." Sora questioned, to which she chuckled lightly at the end.

Yet as she opened her mouth to speak further, she slowly looked down and just settled on a small smirk toward her friend. The silver-haired teen raised a brow to her briefly before opening his mouth to respond. But just like with Sora, he soon closed it and took on his own smirk. "Maybe...but you'll have to catch me to find out." he claimed before he quickly rushed through the entrance of the closest chamber.

This made Sora blink a few times in response before looking down with an almost sad expression. 'He's really starting to doubt me.' she thought silently to herself.

'He's using this 'game' as a way to think things through...but I guess he's not the only one who's going to do that.' the teen continued while clenching her jaw briefly as if in frustration.

'I really want to tell him about my idea of Kairi being inside of me, but...I don't know if he'll believe that. Or even that I believe it myself.' she finished, to which she slowly moved into position to start running.

Though she quickly paused and glanced toward Pinocchio as he just blinked at her with a confused expression on his wooden features. She then looked down in thought for a moments, to which she tapped her chin; "Hmm...how to make this work." she muttered aloud to herself.

Yet she quickly turned to the side as Donald and Goofy fell down from a chamber above them. She immediately took on a grin to this as she gestured to the pair; "Stay with them, I'll come find you afterward, alright?" Sora said, just before she then rushed through the opening in order to follow after Riku.

All the while, the puppet just walked over to Donald and Goofy, both of whom quickly jumped to their feet as they saw Pinocchio before them. "There you are!" the former of the two shouted.

"Ya know, Geppetto is awfully worried about you." the anthropomorphic dog added with a nod of his head to further his words.

"Yeah, so lets go...we need to get you back." Donald said as he gestured for the living puppet to follow him, to which the group headed back toward the ship in the mouth.

Yet deeper into the stomach, Sora rushed along through the many chambers of the whale's gastrointestinal tract. However, she had yet to see or hear any sound of her friend as she could only assume she was still going in the right direction. Though upon coming up to the opening of a chamber four yards above the floor, she quickly stopped as to not fall off the edge.

After glancing around the new area from above, she couldn't find Riku anywhere and decided to go back the way she came. But just before she turned away, she saw the silver-haired teen rushing through one of the entrances below her. This made her pause and back up slightly in order to stay out of sight, her not being sure if she should reveal herself now, or wait.

Though before she could make a decision, the brown-haired girl suddenly heard a voice echoing softly in the chamber ahead. It sounding like a woman from the sound, to which the teen girl slowly crept up to the opening once more. Yet Sora still remained out of sight as best as she could, allowing her to listen in on the conversation. However, she also wasn't able to see anything either for the sake of remaining hidden from sight.

"So you still care for your friend, do you?" the woman's voice questioned right next to where Riku was rushing by.

"So what of it?" the boy demanded back as his tone sounded as though he didn't like the older female.

"I thought you said that you were starting to get the sense that she was hiding something from you." the woman said, her calm tone seeming very contrasting to Riku's impatient one.

"Of course she's hiding something, she's always been terrible at keeping secrets from me. But it's worse than that now." the teen boy muttered as he slowly stopped in his running.

"At first I thought it was just something she didn't want to tell me, cause I'm sure there are plenty of things she regrets along this journey." Riku said, though Sora could have sworn she heard him add 'like me' at the end, yet wasn't sure.

"But now I'm positive that it involves Kairi. And I don't like the fact that she's hiding it from me." he continued in a firmer tone as he was obviously very upset.

Sora's eyes widened to this as she soon looked down, a wave of guilt rushing through her as she kept on listening. "So then why go through this facade of have her chase you to the end of this large beast? You know that the commanding Heartless is down there, do you not?" the woman asked, her voice still seeming extremely calm.

"I need to know how good she's gotten. If push comes to shove and I need to force her to tell me what she knows about Kairi...I'll have to know more about how she fights. Plus my whole idea with that puppet was bound to fail anyway. I had no true way of following his heart once the Heartless took it so that I could find out where Kairi's heart went." Riku responded, yet he soon let out a 'Tch!' before starting running once more.

"Anyway...just mind your own business! I can handle this on my own!" was the last thing he called out before he disappeared into the next chamber.

The brown-haired girl just stayed in her spot as she looked down at the 'ground' with sadness and guilt in her eyes. 'He knew something was up the moment I didn't speak up during our last encounter. The Cheshire Cat's words were running through my mind and I just couldn't bring myself to say anything. But now...it's so much worse.' she thought in her mind while closing her eyes briefly.

Though she soon snapped her eyes open as she heard the woman's voice once more; "You may come out now...he is gone."

This made Sora blink many times as she slowly came into sight, to which she finally saw the woman down below looking up at her. She was a fair, green-skinned female with shining, yellow eyes that held small black pupils. They also held heavy eye-shadowing around them, though she also seemed to have violet make-up and red lipstick.

Her clothing consisted of a long, tattered black robe with a purple trim and maroon flare edges. Though the oddest parts of her appearance were the black-horned headdress, as well as the fin-like spikes on the sides of her neck. She also carried a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip and wore a golden ring with a circular black stone in it.

"Do not be afraid my child, I only came here to check on Riku. It's a pleasure to meet you." the woman spoke while bowing slightly to the teen.

Sora blinked many times to her before jumping down and bowing as well. "Likewise." was all the brown-haired girl could respond with.

"My name is Maleficent, I do hope my appearance does not frighten you." she said while attempting to cover her face with a hand.

The teen waved her hands quickly in response; "N-No...not at all." Sora said as she shook her head as well.

"My name is Sora, it's nice to meet you." she continued, yet her voice sounded almost halfhearted while she spoke.

Maleficent soon moved her hand away before tilting her head to the side; "Dear me...you seem distressed, whatever is the matter child?" she asked in her usual calm tone.

The teen looked at her silently for a few moments, yet she slowly tilted her head down. "I feel like I'm betraying one of my best friends, but I don't know what to do. I feel like if I tell him something...he'll think I'm crazy. Though if I don't tell him...he'll just hate and distrust me even more than he does now." she said silently while continuing to look down.

"I see...that's quite a predicament. But I'm afraid you must find your own answer for it, though I would suggest listening to your heart. It will never lead you astray." Maleficent said as she placed a hand to Sora's lowered head.

Though upon doing this, the woman took on a small smirk as a brief flash of green fire radiated from her hand. However, the brown-haired girl didn't notice this as she just kept looking down at the 'ground'. Yet after hearing Maleficent's words, she tilted her head up to look at her and slowly took on a small smirk.

"You're right." she said while shooting a glance over toward the entrance that Riku had gone through.

But before she was about to follow after her friend once more, she quickly turned back to Maleficent. "Thank you!" she said quickly as she rushed off on her way.

Once she had vanished through the opening, the woman just smirked once more; "No...thank you." she whispered with a light chuckle before disappearing in a flash of green fire, her voice echoing briefly off the walls in an eerie manner.

All the while, Sora quickly caught up to Riku after a few minutes, which lead for them to both quicken their running pace. Yet the moment the reached the end of the fore-stomach, the brown-haired girl would jump and tackle her friend to the 'ground'. Though they landed side-by-side one another, they both just stared up at the 'ceiling' and breathed heavily.

"Looks like...you've gotten...a bit faster." Riku heaved out as he glanced over toward the girl.

"Heh...you haven't...seen...anything yet." Sora commented with a light grin, to which they both chuckled softly.

However, unlike most other times, this laughter was forced on both of their parts. Neither one knowing how to start the conversation they wanted to have as they just laid there catching their breath. Despite the bad smell in the air around them, they were too desperate for air to worry too much about it.

Yet before either of them could speak, a roar was heard from the opening the in the 'floor' to the side of them. This made them both jump back to their feet and summon their weapons, to which Sora rushed forward first. 'I need to prove to him that he can still trust me.' she thought quickly as Riku followed closely after her.

Upon going into the next area, it was clear that they had reached the main area of the stomach where everything was digested. There being stomach acid around them, as well as one other opening to the side that would lead further 'down'. Though it was the large Heartless in the middle that caught their attention.

It being a large, magenta blob in shape with glowing yellow eyes and thin, rounded teeth that resembled prison bars. Its body rested on a flower-like base that was light orange in color, while the much smaller head on top was a light tan. This second head sported a jagged mouth and glowing yellow eyes. It also had two short, blue spikes under its mouth, and a light-orange, curled antenna on its top.

The Heartless also had two long, pale green tentacles sprouting from either side of the second head and ended in yellow "hands". These having three fingers that sported blue spikes on each one. Lastly, the emblem Sora had seen on many of the stronger Heartless was present on this one as well, it been between the eyes of the lower head.

"You ready for this?" Riku asked with a glance to the girl as he got into a fighting stance.

"Hmph...I was born ready." Sora responded as she took on her own pose, which put the two back-to-back.

Yet within moments after charging forward, they had defeated their opponent with ease. Neither of them so much as breaking a sweat as they almost forgot all about their issues between one another as they high-fived. Though after a brief moment, Riku seemed to be first one to get back to business.

"So then...I guess I owe you an explanation, huh?" he started with a raised brow.

However, Sora raised a hand up and just smiled softly; "Lets go to Traverse Town first. There are things I want to talk to you about as well." she said quickly as the silver-haired teen blinked a few times, yet he slowly nodded and gave a small smile of his own.

The pair then headed out of the stomach and back toward the mouth, to which Donald, Goofy and Pinocchio managed to make it back just a few minutes after they had. Though as they were all piling into the Gummi Ship to leave, Riku had suddenly disappeared from sight. Despite Sora not knowing where he had gone, she knew that he would escape on his own somehow. Which lead for them to fly up and through the whale's blowhole for their escape.

"Are you sure he'll make it out?" Goofy asked as he seemed rather doubtful in both tone and expression.

"I'm positive. We agreed to meet up in Traverse town, and we never break our promises." Sora stated firmly with a small smirk on her features.


Alright, there you have it. Maleficent is here and manipulating them both. ;D She's my favorite Disney villain so I have to show her some love. ^^ But anyway, for those of you who are interested, a whale has what is called a 'fore-stomach' before the main stomach, which does indeed have chambers in it. So technically, Monstro's insides are anatomically correct to a degree. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed and will let me know what you thought. I know that the pacing really sped up at the end there, but that was only because I ran short on time. =/ So, until next time.