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Chapter Three: Sidney

"All right dudes! Here comes your exit!"

Crush pointed straight ahead. There was an upcoming split in the current, like a road getting divided into two separate paths. The East Australian current continued on the left. The right path, on the other hand, looped into a spiral shape that faded into the rest of the ocean.

"Ready?" asked Crush.

Sora and Ariel, and Dory saluted. "Ready!"

Marlin took one look at the curling vortex of terror that was their stop, and gulped. He and Flounder gave Crush hesitant looks.

"Are you sure this is safe?" asked Marlin.

"For sure, dude! Alright bros, grab your exit buddy!"

Dory grabbed Marlin tight. Ariel held Flounder's fin and Sora's hand.

"Remember dudes, rip it, roll it and punch it."

"Huh?"

Just as Marlin opened his mouth, Crush took an abrupt stop, and both he and Dory fell straight forward, toward the spiraling current.

"Good luck, dudes!"

Wearing matching, pumped grins, Sora and Ariel dived straight into the current right after Marlin and Dory. Flounder clutched Ariel's arm, eyes closed, gritting his teeth. The current looped and bounced like a water-slide. Ariel and Sora threw up their arms and whooped. Up ahead, Marlin and Dory exited out of the current and into calmer waters. Their screams had turned into laughter.

"That was fun," gasped Marlin. "I actually enjoyed that."

"I want to go again," said Dory.

"No! Let's never do that again!" Flounder cried when he and Ariel came out of the current.

"Most excellent!"

Crush's voice echoed from overhead and the party looked up. He was swimming against the current, waving.

"Now turn your fishy tails around and swim straight on through to Sydney."

Marlin waved back. "Thanks dude! Oh! Wait! How old you?"

"A hundred and fifty dude!"

Sora's jaw dropped. "No way."

"And still young! Rock on" Crush called before the current pushed him away.

After a round of quiet giggles, the party turned around in the direction of Sydney. Blue, murky water was all that lay ahead. There were no coral, no boats, no fish, just the vast void of the sea.

"Wow," said Dory, staring out into the water. "We're going in there?"

"Yup," said Marlin. "Everyone ready?"

"You bet," said Sora.

"Sure," said Flounder, shivering. He stuck close to Ariel's side. "Let's go."

They swam endlessly through the thick murk. Dory entertained herself, with "I spy" games, which got old really quick since Dory kept "spying" Marlin over and over. It got so bad that Flounder lost his patience decided to "I spy" something else, which was enough to distract Dory until she forgot the game entirely. Eventually Dory settled on humming while the party moved through the water in relative silence, though Sora and Ariel did catch themselves occasionally singing, "just keep swimming" under their breathe when Dory's hums needled into their minds.

With nothing else to do, Sora couldn't help but think about Riku and Kairi. The pair of them were great swimmers, and he was sure they were all right, but if he was having this much trouble under the ocean, he couldn't imagine what kinds of crazy was going on above the surface. Sora shook his head. If there was one thing he learned from Goofy, it was that these stupid worries weren't going to do anything except make him panic. Everything would be all right, it always worked out somehow.

But, said a tiny voice in Sora's mind, that was before the worlds were possibly melting together, before new, pureblood heartless were showing up. An icy touch of dread caressed his ears. He felt the familiar warnings of a dark place with colorful glass. Whatever was happening, it was all...

"Too soon," Sora whispered.

Ariel, who had been swimming quietly at his side, tilted her head.

"What's too soon?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

"Um, is it just me," whimpered Flounder, "or is the water getting darker?"

Sora looked around. The ocean had dimmed. Looking up, he couldn't spot the sparkling of the sun on the surface. He couldn't see the undulating, white reflections of daylight on his skin. In fact, he could barely see his hands in front of his face.

Marlin huffed. "Have we been swimming downward this whole time?"

"I don't think so," said Flounder. "I was sure I was going straight."

"Then we've been going in circles! I knew I swam by the same spec three times!"

"Oh relax," said Dory. "The sun probably just went down."

"But this doesn't feel like the ocean at night," whispered Ariel. "Let's just head up to the surface and try to get an idea of where we are."

Marlin was already heading up. "Great idea."

Dory and Flounder chased after the clownfish while Ariel hung back with Sora. She rubbed her shoulder with her free hand.

"This reminds me of what happened in Atlantica."

"Do you think this is what Crush was talking about. The weird stuff that's going on around Sydney." Sora's eyes narrowed. "The darkening."

"Could be." Ariel's hand tightened around the trident.

The closer they swam toward the surface, the more water shifted. It pounded on Sora, pushing him down. The more he tried to swim upward, the harsher the pressure became. Dory, Marlin and Flounder were plunged downward when a wave from the surface crashed into them. Ariel called the party in close. With her trident, she chanted a wind spell. Protected by a sphere of air, the party finally broke through the surface.

Irritable waves slapped against the party's barrier, pushing them back and forth in an undulating pattern that somehow made Sora seasick despite the fact that he was already in the water. Though he was protected by a current of air, the outside wind still scratched at his face, freezing his wet skin with its cold touch. Flounder, Marlin and Dory had to repeatedly dive below the surface to take a breathe, but every time they resurfaced, they looked back up, wide eyed at the flashing, purple clouds overhead.

A ceiling of thunderous clouds glared down at them, stretching so far in either direction that the sky was stained dark in dangerous indigo and wine colors. Flashes of silver lightning buzzed through the rounded curves of the clouds reminding Sora of another night, long ago. He resisted the rising shiver of panic, forcing himself to remember that this was not the night that the Destiny Islands were destroyed, even if the storm above above his head looked exactly the same.

"Duck!" Marlin screamed, pointing over Sora's head.

Sora only had a second to turn and see the bow of a fishing boat heading straight toward him. He popped back underwater with Ariel and the others, watching the boat bounce overhead as it passed. Resurfacing, Sora spotted the word "Sydney" on the boat's stern.

"Quick! After it!"

Diving, the party followed the small vessel as it struggled to get through the ten foot waves. Dory squinted at the underbelly of the boat.

"Wow. They must be really brave to sail in the middle of a storm. Oh, hey look! The water's getting shallower."

Sora looked down. Sure enough they had moved so far from deeper waters that he could now see the sand several feet below. A tree trunk of a pipe rose up from under the sand. Crabs scuttled over the rusty, orange metal, snapping their claws at the tiny bubbles that escaped from the pipe's cracks and creases.

The boat above stopped by the long, wooden legs of a pier. Then, an anchor plunged into the sand below. Sora and Ariel resurfaced and marveled at the harbor ahead of them. In the distance, cars were rushing along the roads by the harbor as the people rushed to get back to their homes. Jagged clusters of tall buildings decorated the city beyond, but it was the people at the piers that caught their attention.

Sailboats, cargo vessels and yachts crowded around the long wooden walkways of the piers. Sailors rushed from boat to boat, screaming at each other over the wind as they tied down ropes, closed sails, and threw anchors into the sea.

The sailors quickly decided they had done as much as they could. Moments later, they ran down the piers into the city. The men and women squeezed into cars, and were soon driving away from the harbor.

"They're evacuating," realized Sora.

"Yes," screamed a voice from overhead, "and you should too before the wind blows you out of the water!"

A pelican flew down from the sky. He landed on the deck of the closest ship and glared hard at Sora's party.

"Are you out of your mind, mates? The humans may think this is just another hurricane that's been banging against the harbor for the last few weeks by my instincts tell me something bigger is coming. Swim back below the surface and get out of here."

"But we can't leave!" Marlin growled. "I have to find my son, Nemo!"

"Well you're going to have to wait until after the sea calms down. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be out in these waves! Get safe while you still got the chance."

"No!" Marlin darted toward the harbor. "I didn't come this far just to run away from a little rain! Nemo is here, and I'm not leaving until I find him!"

"That's the spirit," cheered Dory, following him.

"Wait, you guys! It's dangerous!"

Flounder followed the two smaller fish, and Ariel, not wanting to be separated from her friend, chased him. Sora was about to move, when the pelican's wail reached his ears.

Turning back around, he saw the pelican's beak quivering. Following the bird's line of sight, he spotted it. A mountain of a wave had risen up from the sea. It towered as high as the skyscrapers in the city beyond. Darkness swirled around the edges of the water. A mass of purple, and dark energy appeared under the wave's crest. Billions of yellow spots appeared below the surface of the waves. Sora felt the tingle of those yellow eyes, felt the chill of them looking out into the city, hungry to devour and swallow all. The tip of the wave twitched, searching for the target it was going to crash on, as it moved toward the harbor from the horizon.

The pelican watched the wave, his feather's ruffling in despair. "There's no way I can fly over that thing before it hits!"

"What's your name," Sora shouted.

The bird's beak twitched.

"You're asking me for that? Now?"

"Just tell me."

He all but spat his name. "Nigel!"

"Okay, Nigel. Get ready. I'm going to send you up! Spread those wings!"

The bird spread his wings, but only in exasperation. "Send me up? Are you kidding? There's no way you can-"

"Aeroga!"

Nigel went flying, blasted up toward the clouds seconds after the wind sphere burst below his wings. Once he was sure the bird was high enough to fly over the waves, Sora kicked his tail, reuniting with Ariel, Flounder, Marlin and Dory. They had been swimming between the boats, screaming Nemo's name. Not even Dory could calm Marlin down, and when heartless popped out of the water, surrounding them, Marlin's rage only doubled.

"Get out of my way," he splashed water on the darkballs.

"Guys! Duck!" Catching up to them, Sora threw his keyblade, slicing through the line of heartless.

Reaching the group, Sora pointed at the tidal wave heading their way.

"We'll get washed into the city and stranded at this rate," panicked Flounder, his teeth chattering at the sight of massive wall of water.

They had minutes, if they were lucky.

Ariel's face paled. Clutching the trident tight, she dove down underwater, swimming away from the harbor, toward the wave.

Sora swam after her. "Where are you going?"

"Daddy's trident controls all the power of the sea! I have to hold it back Sora!"

"There's water heartless inside that wave. There's no way you can hold back so many by yourself."

"If I don't hold that wave back, the human city, everyone in it, they'll all drown! I can't let that happen! I'll try to buy you some time. Swim into the wave and take down as many heartless as you can. We can beat it, I know we can."

"Okay! Flounder, get Dory and Marlin someplace safe."

Sora dove down after Ariel, swimming as fast as he could to keep pace with her. With her trident, she summoned a current of water that pushed her tail, making her torpedo toward the wave.

Marlin popped up in front of Sora's face. Sora waved his arms and flailed his fin, managing to stop himself before he barreled into Marlin.

"What the-what you doing? You need to get someplace safe!"

"No," Marlin gasped, his voice hoarse. After three full breaths, he glared hard into Sora's eyes. "I'm helping you take down the monsters in that wave!"

"Marlin, I know I relied on you before, but this is nothing like taking down one sea barnacle. Thanks for the offer, really, but this is no joke. Those heartless will eat a little fish like you alive."

"SO WHAT?" Marlin roared. "There is nothing that will keep me from finding Nemo. Not you, not those creatures, nothing!"

"Yeah! You tell him!"

Sora turned around. Behind him, Dory was catching up, a surprisingly fierce look in her grin.

Sora looked back and forth between the two fish. "I can't put you in danger."

Marlin smacked Sora's nose with his fin. It didn't hurt, but Sora leaned back as though he had been backhanded across the face.

"You told me to have a little bit more faith. Well, now I'm asking you to have some faith in me! I'm not letting you take down those things alone."

"But what can you possibly do?"

"I don't know." Marlin winked. "We'll just keep swimming and figure it out."

Sora's lips lifted in spite of himself. No matter how many worlds he visited, no matter how many people he met, with every friend he made, he was constantly surprised by their spirit, from the truest, toughest hero of them all, to the tiniest fish.

Nodding at Marlin, Sora pointed after Ariel.

"Then we'd better catch up to her!"

Dory darted past them. "Come on, slowpokes! We've got a big ol' wave to take down!"

Up ahead, Ariel was swimming upward. Breaking through the surface right behind her, Sora spotted the wave. It was coming in fast. Just a few more seconds and it would reach the suspension bridge at the edge of the harbor, and then there would be nothing in its way, nothing to stop it from washing away the city and all the people inside it.

The trident began to glow in Ariel's hands. Gripping the staff tightly, she raised it into the air. From the storm clouds above, a bolt of lightning struck. Sora covered his eyes. A blast of wind blew him backward, away from Ariel. When the flash faded, a bubble of water surrounded Ariel, lifting her out of the water. The golden light of her trident sprinkled toward the tidal wave that was thundering their way.

The wave stampeded forward for several more seconds, and then froze, as though the hands of time were holding it back. Pushed upward into the air, floating in her the sphere of water, Ariel shivered as she pointed the glowing trident at the wave. She spoke through gritted teeth, but her eyes were wide with concentration.

"Sora! Go!"

Sora dove. Marlin and Dory grabbed his spiky hair, holding on as Sora bulleted through the water. The surface of the ocean rose up as they neared the wave. The first group of heartless swam out of the bottom of the wave, spinning like tops, toward Sora. With Marlin and Dory still holding onto his head, blasting his way through the first set of heartless was as simple as chanting a single blizzard spell.

The heartless exploded, and Sora swam up, making a b-line toward the swarm of water heartless inside the wave. He tore through the thinner groups near the bottom of the wave, but as he swam up toward the wave's summit, whole armies of heartless descended down on him.

Sora only had a second to summon an aero spell to protect himself, Dory and Marlin before the heartless tackled him, surrounding him so tightly that all he saw was a sea of yellow eyes blending together. Unable to break through Sora's spell, the heartless manipulated the water around him, summoning a current of water, trapping him in a spinning vortex. Sora flipped over and over so fast, he lost track of what was up or down, his head pounding as though a thousand invisible fists were grinding their knuckles along his scalp.

Dory and Marlin were thrown off him. Finding themselves suddenly surrounded by heartless at every turn, neither Dory nor Marlin cowered. Raising his fins high, Marlin wriggled, trying to catch the heartless' attention.

"Hey! Over here, you weird wannabe umbrella squids! I'm much more interesting then dolphin boy! Come get a taste!"

"A taste? Oh! Are we trying free samples? I'll have some monster stew please," Dory giggled.

If there was one thing the heartless loved, it was an easy target. Turning away from Sora, the water core heartless darted toward Marlin and Dory, their zigzag shaped mouths opening wide. Screaming, Marlin and Dory quickly darted through the narrow gaps between heartless, making the bigger creatures crash into and take bites out of each other.

They did not stop, calling the heartless over, wiggling like bait on a fishing line, and then darting away fast. By this time, Sora had stopped spinning, casting a healing spell on himself. One by one, he destroyed the heartless that had been disoriented by Marlin and Dory, but more of the creatures swam down from the top of the wave, crowding around Sora, Marlin and Dory, making it harder and harder for the two fish to find wiggle room to swim.

Too busy taking down a group of water cores straight ahead, Sora didn't sense the heartless that darted forward behind him, until it bit hard into his shoulder. The shock of sudden pain made Sora freeze for two seconds, and that's when the rest of the heartless came down on him. Sora tried to move, but the water core that had bit into his shoulder held him in place. Marlin and Dory's calls were not nearly as tempting as devouring a keyblade master and Sora couldn't reach over his shoulder to push the heartless off his back.

Something yellow flashed in the corner of his eye. Sora felt a thump on his back. The yellow thing tackled the heartless holding him down, pushing it off. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Sora pointed his keyblade and screamed out three ice spells. Just as the shards of ice froze the heartless that had been inches away from tearing him to shreds, Sora chanted a healing spell on himself, using the last of his magic to push his pain away.

Just then a yellow fish swam up over his shoulder. He pin-balled his pudgy body against the frozen heartless, making them crash into each other and explode.

Holding his hands around his mouth, Sora bellowed. "Flounder, you're the best!"

Flounder turned around and winked at Sora.

"Did you think I would hang back and not help! I'm not afraid of some stupid monsters! Besides, there's no way I was going to let Ariel face this thing alone! Come on!"

He joined Marlin and Dory, distracting the heartless, and forcing them toward Sora, who cut through one swarm after another. The wave started to shrink, sinking lower and lower as they took down the heartless controlling it. Sora was able to break through the surface of the wave, catching Ariel's eye.

Even from a distance, he could see her shaking, her face covered in a shiny layer of sweat, but she refused to give up. The trident glowed brighter. Now that the scales had been tipped in her favor, she gathered more energy and forced the wave down into a smaller and smaller hill of water.

There was a cry from above. Looking up, Sora spotted Nigel flying below the clouds, a flock of seagulls chasing him. A chorus of seagull cries met Sora's ears.

"Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine?" cried the seagulls.

"That's right, ya rats with wings! It's all yours!" Nigel roared. "Go and give those ugly monsters a good pecking!"

"Way to go, Nigel," Sora chuckled.

The sea gulls dove. They landed on the heartless that had been close to the surface of the water. They pecked and clawed, making the heartless easy pickings for Sora to destroy. As the heartless fell, the clouds above began to spread out, pieces of blue sky poking through the purple darkness. Soon, only ten heartless were left in the tiny wave. It took Sora mere seconds to get rid of them all.

The seagulls flew away, off to chase another meal. Ariel's strength gave out. She lowered the trident, letting her sphere of water collapse. She sank into the water, her energy spent, but her heart filled with accomplishment. As she fell deeper into the sea, she saw the last of the dark clouds vanish, and the sky was a brilliant blue once more. Ariel rested on the sand at the bottom of the ocean, waiting until Sora, Marlin, Flounder and Dory found her moments later, celebrating their victory as they lifted her up back up toward the surface.

"Ariel, you did great," said Flounder, giving Ariel a high five.

The harbor was calm once again, and, in the city beyond, people walked out of their homes. Townsfolk stood on the suspension bridge, the piers, and the roads beside the water, watching the sea in awe, staring at the calm surface where there had been a tidal wave mere minutes before.

Ariel could barely hold on to her trident, and was happy lean on Sora. He pulled her arm over his shoulder, helping her to float next to him. Then, there was a cry from above. Nigel was circling the group of fish. He landed on the ocean's surface, and, winking at Marlin, dipped his beak into the water.

A tiny clownfish swam out of Nigel's beak.

Marlin cried. "Nemo!"

"Daddy!"

The smaller fish collided with his father. Dory cheered, swimming in a spiral, so happy she wasn't sure what to do with herself. Flounder splashed in and out of the water. Sora and Ariel watched the reunion with matching smiles.

Suddenly, Nigel flew upward. "Look out, mates!"

There was a rush of cold water against Sora's back. Before he could turn around, sharp fangs appeared before his eyes. He and Ariel swam backward, away from the teeth, and straight into the gut of a giant anglerfish heartless. Trapped in its stomach, the two of them were dragged down below the waves, away from Sydney, and out to sea.

Sora looked around the fleshy, orange bubble he was trapped in. When he smashed his weapon into the muscular walls, the teeth of his key sank into a thick mucous, softening his blow. Sora tried again, but soon his keyblade, and his hands, were covered by the burning goo. Ariel, too exhausted from her earlier attack, had no energy to fight back. Worse, the sac they were trapped in was starting to shrink, the gooey walls creeping closer.

Air bubbles sprinkled down on Sora's head. Looking up, he spotted a tiny tube along the inner membrane of the heartless' stomach. Strangely enough, the tunnel didn't have any mucous coating its walls. At the end of the fleshy tunnel, Sora saw a pink and golden glow.

"Sora! Ariel! Can you hear me?"

Sora spotted Marlin's shadow through the orange membrane of the heartless' stomach.

"We're okay," Ariel called.

Just as she spoke, the sac collapsed inward, forcing Sora and Ariel closer together.

"Oh no," panicked Dory.

"Ariel, what do we do," came Flounder's desperate voice.

Sora tried to aim a blast of light into the fleshy tunnel above him, but the opening was much too small and he was too distracted by the burning mucous on his hands to concentrate.

"It only I were smaller," he roared out of frustration.

"How small?" said a young voice.

"Who's that?"

"It's Nemo! What are you talking about?"

"There's a opening right above me. If I could just attack the core that's inside it, I may be able to break through this thing."

"How small is it?"

"I'd guess it's a little smaller then Marlin."

"Daddy, I know what to do! Look down there!"

Through the sac, Sora spotted the shape of a tiny clownfish, swimming around to the front of the heartless fish. A moment later, there was an argument.

"No! You are NOT getting eaten by this thing! I didn't come all this way just to lose you again!"

"Dad, there's no time! We have to save Sora and Ariel. Just trust me, please! I know I can do this."

There was a pause. Ariel and Sora looked at each other, holding their breaths. Then Marlin spoke, his tone much more relaxed.

"You're right. You can do this son. I know you can. How do we help you?"

"Distract the fish! Make it mad, lead it down there! Taking it down will be easier if it can't concentrate on me."

"Okay!"

"You got this, Bingo," said Dory.

"His name is Nemo! And you heard my son! Flounder, Dory, come on! We've got a fish to distract!"

The fish suddenly lurched downward, possibly chasing Dory, Marlin and Flounder. Sora and Ariel almost slammed into the walls of the angler fish's stomach. The only thing that had protected them from hitting the burning, mucous covered walls was the trident. Ariel held it out horizontally in front of her. The tip and base of the weapon stuck to the heartless' stomach walls, acting like a bar for Ariel and Sora to hold onto, as well as slowing the walls from collapsing.

Seconds later, a tiny fish popped out of the heartless' throat and into its stomach. One of his front fins was smaller then the other, and it fluttered at his side like a hummingbird's wing. Still, the little fish was swam fast, hovering in font of Sora's eyes.

"What do you need me to do," he asked.

"Nemo, was it?" Sora pointed to the tunnel overhead. "I need you to squeeze through that tunnel. If you can get to the pink and gold heart inside, try to attack it as hard as you can."

"Got it!"

Nemo swam into the tunnel. At first, it didn't seem like he would fit as he simply plugged up the hole, but then he began wiggling his tiny fin and tail, and slowly, he got through.

Sora still felt the thrust of movement. The angler fish was swimming faster, down and down, after Marlin and the others. Sora's palms burned as he held onto the trident with Ariel. Needles of pain attacked his fingers, and it felt as though his thumbs were about to fall off, but he refused to let go and be thrown against the heartless' disgusting stomach wall.

The angler fish darted side to side, making Sora and Ariel swing left and right. From outside came Marlin, Dory and Flounder's cries. Suddenly, the angler fish stopped. The stomach walls twitched, stretching, as though the fish were heaving.

Sora looked up at the tube overhead. He saw orange flashes in front of the pink glow inside. Nemo grunted as he slammed his tiny body against the heart. The mucous on the walls thinned. Sora summoned his keyblade. Ariel pulled the trident back. Gathering what little energy they had left, the pair of put their weapons side by side, their magic converging.

"Thundaza!"

A red bolt of lightning ripped through the muscular sac of the heartless' stomach.

"Nemo! Get down here, quick!"

The moment the tiny fish popped out of the tunnel above, Ariel put her hands around the little fish. Sora grabbed Ariel's arm and pulled her out of the heartless' stomach. Swimming out into clearer water, they turned to look back at the giant angler fish that had swallowed them.

The sac that was once its stomach was nothing more then shredded, blue skin. It was impaled on a sunken anchor on the the seafloor, the metal poking through the heartless emblem on its head. Within moments, the heartless burst apart, disappearing into nothing.

Marlin, Flounder and Dory swam up from beside the sunken anchor. Ariel let Nemo go, and moments later, he hugged Marlin, whooping.

"Did you see that! We did it!"

"No, son, you did it! I'm so proud of you!"

Flounder tackled Ariel, rubbing his nose in her shoulder. Meanwhile, Dory swam by Sora and patted his shoulder.

"Boy, I'm pooped. That was a wild ride."

Sora leaned back till he was floating horizontally in the water. Looking up at the beams of sunlight shining through the surface of the ocean, Sora relaxed. "Sure was. So, what do you plan to do now, Dory?"

She shrugged. "No idea. But who cares! I'm with my friends. As long as I'm with them, I'm home. Oh! That gives me an idea."

Sora flipped back upright, watching as Dory swam toward Marlin and Nemo. The father and son pair were busy talking about their respective journeys when she came between them.

"Say, you two, that was a fun trip huh?"

"Well I wouldn't say fun," said Marlin, "but it was quite the adventure. Now we can go home and never worry about it again."

"Oh no you don't, Mr. Grumpy Gills. We've still got something to do." Dory pointed to Flounder and Ariel. "They worked so hard to help us. It's only right that we return the favor."

Before Marlin could even think of a reply, Dory was already in front of Ariel's nose.

"Next, we're going to help you find your dad and this sea-bass guy."

Ariel chuckled. "Sea bass? I think you mean 'Sebastian.' Are you sure you want to help me search? The ocean is a big place."

Dory turned around and gave Marlin a look. "Well?"

"Come on Dad," said Nemo. "It's only fair."

"Oh don't look at me like that." Marlin smiled, shaking his head. "Of course I was going to say yes. Let me help you find your father, Ariel."

Sora was sure that the only reason he couldn't see Ariel's tears were because they were already underwater. Though her eyes were puffy and red, the joy in her grin was infectious, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny," said Dory. "Oh no. Did I miss a joke?"

Everyone, except for a very confused Nemo, joined in on Sora's laughter. After a few seconds, Dory and Nemo joined in, easily swept up by warm current of happiness surrounding them all.

When the laughter stopped, Nemo swam up to Sora.

"By the way, I have a message for you," he said.

"You don't have to thank me or anything," Sora said. "I would have helped Marlin look for you no matter what."

"Not that." Nemo shook his head. "Do you know someone named Kairi?"

The sound of her name was like an arrow straight to his heart.

"Kairi? I sure do! Wait, you met her? How?"

Nemo showed Sora his tiny fin. "She helped me when I was lost in the ocean. Told me to believe in myself, even with my bad fin. She's really nice."

If Sora wasn't careful, he would accidentally burp out one of the butterflies in his stomach. His chest was beating with so much excitement, he could barely breathe.

"What did she want to tell me?"

"She wanted me to tell you that she's okay, and that she has to help out some friends before she can meet up with you at a castle somewhere. She said you'd know what that means."

Sora nodded. "Sure do. Thanks, Nemo. That means a lot to me."

Dory must have gotten tired of sitting still because she began swimming around the group, clapping her fins. "Come on, people! What are we standing around for? Let's kick those tail fins and get moving."

Without another word, she swam back out into the sea.

As the party followed Dory, Ariel leaned toward Sora and whispered something in his ear.

"Is this what its like when you go from world to world. Do you just pick up more friends along the way?"

Sora nodded. "That's exactly what it's like."

Ariel looked over her shoulder. Sora had guessed that she was looking back in the direction the harbor at Sydney, even though they had been dragged so far out to sea by the angler fish that there was no way she could could see any of the boats.

"I've seen so many places in such a short amount of time. To think that I'd get to see so many new things and make new friends. Adventuring really is something."

Sora ginned. "Yup. Nothing like it."

After reuniting with Crush and surfing the EAC, Sora and his group were only a few hours away from reaching the reef that was Marlin and Nemo's home. They still hadn't seen any clues about Sebastian and King Triton on their journey, but neither Ariel nor Flounder seemed bothered by it. Even when the occasional heartless popped up, traveling still remained joyful now that Nemo had been found.

Marlin entertained Dory, Flounder, and Ariel by retelling their adventure to his son. Sora swam leisurely at the rear of their party, listening to the tale while his eyes roamed lazily over the sea floor below. At first, he noticed a few bumps in the sand, but the further they swam, the more he noticed strange items littering the sea floor.

Curious, Sora swam down. Ariel followed him. She spotted a fork and picked it up, squealing with delight.

"A dinglehopper! Sora, look!"

Any other time, Sora would have been happy to enjoy Ariel's find, but he was too distracted by a glimmer in the sand. Reaching in, Sora pulled out a diamond the size of a baseball. The jewel's many facets shined over the water, its reflections dotting Sora's skin and the sand below, filling him with a familiar filling. He remembered a bayou, the chirping of crickets. He remembered entering a cave near the sea to look for the very diamond he held in his hand.

"The Devil's Eye," Sora whispered. "How did it get here?"

"Hey, what's the hold up," asked Marlin. "We're almost to the reef."

Ariel looked from Sora to Marlin. "Why don't you all go ahead of us? We're going to check out this human stuff for a bit. Flounder, can you go with them?"

Marlin was a little peeved to be dismissed, but Dory was able to make him come around.

"Come on buddy, let's give them some privacy."

Once the fish were gone, Sora showed Ariel the gem.

"I found this in another world once," he explained. "I lost it in the swamp when I was fighting a crazy lady with two crocodiles."

Ariel looked around at all the debris sticking out from the sand. "Let's look around. Maybe we can find some clues."

She dug through the sand with the end of her trident, unearthing a cork puller, and all kinds of human junk that she happily collected. Sora dug and dug. He pulled out a globe, a spoon, a butter knife, a music box with a statue of a dancing couple on top of it, a pocket watch, and a perfume bottle. Ariel loved each of the discoveries and soon her hands were so full, she kept dropping the items back into the sand.

Sora left the Devil's Eye on the ocean floor and kept looking. He had no use for a pretty gem. A clue, or something functional would be more helpful on his journey. Then, he noticed a red square poking out of the sand. A tingle of excitement spread through Sora's thoughts. He pulled on the smooth square but it was too heavy to free from the sand. Or, perhaps, too big.

"What do you have there?" Ariel asked when she caught up to him. Sometime during their search, she had found a little, red bag and filled it with her favorite treasures.

"I think this red block is attached to something deeper under the sand. I can't pull it out."

"Move back a bit."

Sora swam upward. Ariel aimed the trident at the red block. A current of water swirled, like an underwater tornado. It stripped the sand away from around the block, digging a hole. When the sand had cleared away, Sora swallowed at the sight before him.

"No way!"

A gummi ship, his gummi ship, lay on its side, still half sunken in the sand. The yellow, gold, and red blocks making up the rocket were exactly as he had remembered them. He swam down and pressed his nose to the glass dome of the cockpit. There was air inside, as well as the three chairs he, Donald and Goofy would sit in as they traveled between worlds. Sora looked at the switches, the steering wheel, and all the dials on the ship's dashboard. They were completely untouched.

"How did the gummi ship get here? The last time I saw it, me, Donald and Goofy had gone to fight Ansem at the End of the World!"

"This is yours?" Ariel asked, pressing her face on the dome right next to him.

"Yes! Well, sort of. That's one problem solved, at least."

"Which is?"

"I was wondering how I would meet up with Kairi and Riku after we found your dad. This ship is my ticket to other worlds. And it looks like it still has some juice!"

"You should go, Sora."

"I will. After I help you find King Triton."

Ariel giggled. "You're a really good friend. But, we both know you have something more important to do. Take a deep breathe."

"Why?"

Sora had barely said the word when Ariel pointed her trident at him. A golden glow lit up the water around him, and Sora felt his tail tingling, as though his muscles had fallen asleep. The tingling feeling turned into stretching and pulling, and his body felt warmer, as though he were covered in...clothes?

"Wait! Ariel!"

Sora closed his mouth before the water rushed in. His tail was gone. His legs had returned and so had his need to breathe air. Sora swam to the gummi ship, opened the doom and entered the cockpit. As the water drained from inside the cockpit, Sora took a deep breathe and looked back out into the sea. Ariel swam by.

Sora called to her from behind the glass. "Ariel, what are you doing?"

Her voice was muffled, the water and the glass drowning her out. She placed her hand on the glass and Sora heard her words clearly.

"You've helped me so much, more then I can ever really repay you for, but I think the worlds need you more. Whether the worlds are crashing into each other or combining into one, the heartless have gotten stronger. You need to go and learn why this is happening."

"But I made a promise," Sora argued. "I still don't know what happened to Atlantica!"

"Let me worry about my home. And don't worry. I'll find Daddy and Sebastian, I know I will. If Marlin and Nemo can find each other, I can find them. Plus, I'm not alone anymore."

"But-"

Ariel put up a hand. "Listen. I think the wave of darkness that forced me out of Atlantica may be what connected my world to yours. Those watery heartless appeared in my world too. Now that I have the trident, I can defend the oceans from those heartless, hold my ground while you find a more permanent fix. If Daddy were here, it's what he'd want me to do. So believe in me, okay?"

"Don't be silly. After everything we've been through, how can I not believe in you?"

"The same goes for me. Now hold on. I'm going to send you up to the surface!"

Sora jumped into the pilot's seat, and strapped on his seatbelt. Ariel swam around the gummi ship, powering up the trident. A current of water pushed the ship out of the sand. With another powerful push from the trident, Sora blasted off toward the surface of the sea. He popped out of the ocean.

In the air, Sora powered up the ship, waking up the thrusters and getting the ship to hover before it could crash back into the sea. Looking down, he saw Ariel waving at him from the surface of the water.

"Go on, keyblade master. Fix the problem at the source. We'll see each other again."

"You bet we will," Sora called back.

Winking, Ariel dove into the water just as Sora grabbed the steering wheel of the gummi ship. He pulled Kairi's good luck charm from his pocket, closing his eyes. The star shaped charm pulsated in his hand, warming his fingers. He visualized Donald and Goofy, hoping his heart would guide him to Disney Castle. Then he kicked the gummi ship into gear and flew up into the sky.

Jiminy's Journal

Nigel (First Appeared in Finding Nemo, 2003): A friendly pelican that lives in Sydney. He likes to help out others when he can, whether its by warning them about an incoming storm, fighting alongside the seagulls he doesn't like, or by reuniting a father and son.

Nemo (First Appeared in Finding Nemo, 2003): Marlin's son. One of his front fins is smaller then the other. Marlin calls it Nemo's "Lucky Fin." Although he's young, Nemo is just as brave and loyal as his father. He also seems to be good friends with Kairi.