Chapter 9: Neverland
After returning to their Gummi ship, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy dries off the page they found on Atlantica and then fax a copy to Cid. "Good job," exclaim Cid over the ship's communications. "So, what's written in the report," asks Kairi. "Oh yeah. Here's a summary of it so far prepared by Aerith," replies Cid.
Kairi picks up the summary from the fax and starts to read it with Donald and Goofy. I spent countless years acquiring all there is to know. My knowledge became power, and it is now protecting this world. I brought smiles to people's faces, and they respect me. Still, people can be a philosopher, but there are some things I do not understand.
The three continue reading the summary. It describes Ansem's desire to understand the heart and the darkness that lies within them. His interest leads him to the discovery and naming of Heartless. But the three are shocked by the next part.
To begin my study, I developed a machine for artificially generating Heartless. If I improve this machine, it may be possible to create Heartless from scratch. When I compared the machine-made Heartless and natural-born Heartless, I determined that the nature and performance of the two are nearly the same. But to draw more accurate test results, I will place a mark on the machine-made Heartless for identification.
"So Maleficent abused this machine," exclaim Kairi after finishing reading the summary. "She must've created Heartless after Heartless with the machine," adds Donald. Suddenly, the whole ship lurches. "What's wrong," asked Cid. "I think we ran into something. A-hyuck. Something...big," answers Goofy.
When Donald and Kairi recover, they could not believe what they ran into. "A pirate ship," exclaims the three. Before them is a giant pirate ship sailing through space. Caught off guard, Heartless boards their ship and drag the three back to the pirate ship. In the process, Kairi is separated from Donald and Goofy.
She tries to break free, but the Heartless is too strong. "Who are you? Let go of me! Where did you take Donald and Goofy," Kairi demands her captors. "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends?"
Kairi is surprised by the question, and she looks up to see the speaker. The speaker is none other than Riku. Kairi could not believe that Riku did this. "Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking about him," Riku adds as he steps aside, revealing a person behind him.
Kairi is shocked by the identity of the person behind Riku. "Sora," cries Kairi. With a rush of adrenaline, Kairi breaks free from the Heartless and rushes towards Sora. But she suddenly stopped by a man in a red overcoat and have a hook for a hand.
"Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel, little girl," said the pirate. Kairi could not get any closer, so she asks, "Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?" With a cold yet distant look in his eyes, Riku answers, "The Heartless obey me now, Kairi. Now I have nothing to fear."
Kairi could not believe Riku's statement. "What're you talking about? You are crazy! Sooner or later, they will swallow your heart," exclaims Kairi. But Riku did not flinch at all. "Not a chance. My heart's too strong," replies Riku.
Kairi did not know what to say. Her friend becomes someone she barely recognizes. Riku was kind and caring, but he seems to be so cold and dark now. "Just watch. I have picked up a few other new tricks as well. Like this, for instance," Riku said as he snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, a black creature appears in front. Kairi could not believe that Riku could create a monster with a snap of his fingers. But the thing that shocks Kairi the most about the creature is that it looks exactly like her. Upon seeing Kairi's face, Riku said, "No more messing around. You can go see your friends now."
Riku snaps his fingers again and a trapdoor opens beneath Kairi. Kairi could only scream as she fell into darkness.
"Thanks, I'm sorry if I accidentally hurt you two," Kairi said. "Don't worry. We're completely fine," replies Donald. After falling through the trapdoor, Kairi is reunited with Donald and Goofy in a prison cell. Although Kairi accidentally lands on top of them.
After getting off Donald and Goofy, Kairi tells them, "I've finally found Sora." "You don't say," replies Donald. "Yeah! It was Sora! He's on this ship," exclaim Kairi. But even though Kairi is so excited to be reunited with her friend, she feels that there is something off with him.
Never mind that now. I need to escape from this cell first. Luckily, the cell door has a window. When Kairi peers through the window, she sees dozens of Heartless guarding the cell door. "What should we do? There are Heartless everywhere. We need to get out of here," said Kairi.
"Ahem! How ya doin', there? Looking for a way out," asks a voice. "Who's there," exclaims Donald. Kairi, Donald, and Goofy turn around to see a boy with them. He has orange hair and is green tights. But the most surprising part about him is that he is floating in midair.
"Me? I am Peter Pan. I'm the answer to your prayers," answer the floating boy. After shaking off her disbelief, Kairi asks, "But you're stuck in here too, aren't you?" "Me? Ha! Only dumb people let themselves get caught. I'm just waiting for someone," replies Peter.
"Who," asks Kairi. Immediately after her question, a little ball of light appears in the cell. "Tink, what took you so long," Peter calls out to the ball of light. When Kairi looks closer, she realizes that there is a little person in it.
The little person has blonde hair, a tiny green dress, and a beautiful pair of wings. "This is Tinker Bell, a fairy," explains Peter. "A fairy," exclaims Donald. "A-hyuck! How beautiful," adds Goofy. "Great job. So, you found Wendy," Peter asks Tinker Bell.
Tinker Bell flies close to Peter's ear and whispers to him. Kairi could not hear what Tinker Bell is saying, but luckily Kairi could hear Peter just fine. "Oh, okay. Huh? Hold on... There was a boy there, too? Okay, we'll just have to rescue him as him."
Kairi wonders if Sora is the boy they are talking about, but Kairi could not understand why he would be locked up. Sora and Riku were best friends, even long before she met them. But Riku has changed a lot since they lost their world. Kairi could only hope that Sora is safe.
"Are you crazy? No way I am gonna leave Wendy there," exclaimed Peter. Kairi just notices that Peter and Tinker Bell are fighting. For so reason, Tinker Bell looks upset at Peter. "Aha! She must be pretty jealous," Donald exclaims with a laugh. At his comment, Tinker Bell kicks Donald right in the bill.
"Hey, Tink! Wait up! You found another exit, right? What, up," Peter exclaims as he chases after Tinker Bell. When he finally catches Tinker Bell, Peter realizes that she leads him to a vent near the ceiling. "We can get out through here? All right. Good job, Tink," exclaimed Peter.
Tinker Bell blush at Peter's congratulation. Peter is about to take off the vent grate until Donald speaks up. "Wait! How can we get out that way? We can't fly like you guys." The vent is out of the reach of the three friends. "Can't fly? Anyone can fly. You wanna try," asks Peter as he grabs Tinker Bell.
Peter then bops Tinker Bell, causing golden dust to shower down on Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. "A little pixie dust for you, and you're free as a bird! Come on, try flying," exclaimed Peter. Kairi is a little doubtful that dust would allow them to fly.
Instead, Donald leaps into the air while flapping his arms hoping that he would fly. But Donald just falls flat on the floor. Tinker Bell laughs at Donald's failure. Seeing that they could not, Peter said, "All right... Here, grabs this rope." "Now you give us the rope," replies an annoyed Donald.
Kairi, Donald, and Goofy climb up Peter's rope and into the vent. They crawl through the vent following Peter and Tinker Bell. They arrive in a different room. The room is horizontally split in half by metal netting. The group comes out of a vent on the bottom section of the room.
The group could see that two persons are sitting in the top section. The first person is a girl with orange hair and is wearing a light blue nightgown. "Wendy," Peter calls out to the girl. "Peter! You came to rescue me," exclaimed Wendy. "I'll be right in there," replies Peter.
"Please hurry! The pirates are coming," exclaimed Wendy. "Hold on, I have to take care of this netting," Peter replies as he pulls out his knife and starts cutting the metal netting. But Kairi is not paying attention because she is focusing on the other person imprisoned, Sora.
Kairi tries to call out to Sora, but no matter what he did not respond or react to Kairi. Sora is just sitting with a blank look in his eyes. Kairi wonders what wrong with Sora. Suddenly, the door to the upper half of the room opens. A bunch of Heartless and a chubby pirate walks in. "All right, Captain Hook wants to see you two in his cabin right away," exclaims the chubby pirate.
The Heartless rush towards Sora and Wendy. "Oh no, you don't," exclaimed Peter as he finally managed to make a hole big enough for him to get through. Peter saves Wendy from the Heartless as the chubby pirate runs away in fear. But Sora is not as lucky. The Heartless starts to carry Sora away.
Kairi climbs as fast as she can up a support beam to reach the hole Peter made. But by the time Kairi makes it through the hole, the Heartless has left the room with Sora. "Wendy! Wendy! Wake up!" Kairi turns her attention to Peter to see that Wendy has fainted.
As Peter tries to wake Wendy, Tinker Bell tries to redirect Peter's attention. But Peter did not have any time for her. "Come on, Tink! Not now," Peter shouts at Tinker Bell. After his outburst, Peter soon notices Kairi. "Kairi, this is as far as I can go. I've gotta help Wendy," Peter tells Kairi.
Kairi understands Peter's feelings. She too has someone she wants to protect. "Okay, we'll rescue Sora," replies Kairi. She then runs off to rescue Sora with Donald and Goofy in tow.
Unbeknownst to any of them, Tinker Bell flies off by herself and into danger.
"Kairi! Over there," exclaim Donald as he pointed towards Sora. After leaving Peter behind, Kairi along with Donald and Goofy enters a long hallway. The Heartless that are carrying Sora is currently hauling him up a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway. But in between Kairi and her goal stands a hoard of Heartless.
The three charges right at the hoard and fight their way through. Kairi then rushes up the stairs and through a trapdoor at the top of the stairs. Kairi arrives in a cabin and sees the Heartless handing Sora to Riku with a dark vortex behind him.
Riku instantly notices Kairi's arrival, yet he says nothing to her. The dark vortex starts to envelop Sora and Riku. "Riku! Wait," exclaim Kairi. Suddenly, a shadowy copy of herself blocks Kairi's way. Kairi manages to slice the monster away.
"Riku! Don't go," Kairi exclaims as she tries to catch up with Riku. But the dark vortex vanishes and instead Kairi bursts through a door leading to the deck of the pirate ship. Kairi falls to her knees on the ship's deck. "Why do you always disappear like that," Kairi asks.
Kairi could not understand why Riku keep avoiding her or preventing her from getting to Sora. Kairi also could not forget about Sora's weird behavior. Before she could think about it anymore, a voice catches her attention. Quite a codfish, that Riku. Running off and leaving such an exquisite girl behind."
Kairi looks up to see the pirate with the red coat and hook. Kairi realizes that he must be the 'Captain Hook' the chubby pirate mention earlier. "Runoff where? Tell me, where did he go," Kairi demands as she springs off the floor.
"To the ruins of Hollow Bastion where Maleficent resides," answers Captain Hook. Kairi is shocked that Riku decides to work with that villain. "But you won't be getting there anytime soon," continues Captain Hook with a sly smile. Suddenly, a bunch of Heartless surrounds Kairi along with Donald and Goofy who have arrived not long ago.
As the three prepare for battle, Captain Hook's expression did not change. "Pretty brave of you to face your enemy. But should I assume that means you do not care what happens to your little pixie friends," Captain Hook asks as the chubby pirate brings out a lantern with Tinker Bell trapped inside.
"You coward," exclaimed Donald. "Call me what you will! I am a pirate," exclaim Captain Hook after a laugh. He then points his hook at Kairi's Keyblade. "Hand over the Keyblade, and I'll spare your lives. Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the Heartless," continues Captain Hook.
"Are you crazy," exclaims Donald. "If you prefer, you can take a nice long walk off the plank into the freezing ocean instead," offers Captain Hook as he gesturing to a long plank sticking out on the starboard side. Suddenly, a strange sound starts to ring out like a ticking clock. Captain Hook's face turns pale at the sound.
Kairi, Donald, and Goofy notices a crocodile swim under the plank as if it knows it will get a free meal soon. Captain Hook cowers at the sight of the crocodile. "He's after my other hand! Smee, you take care of them," Captain Hook orders as he runs away to his cabin.
Despite some unease, the chubby pirate, or Smee, decides to follow his captain's orders. "Okay, little lady, you don't care what happens to Tinker Bell? Or are you gonna give me the key," Smee asks Kairi. The Heartless huddles around Smee to protect him.
Seeing no other choice, Kairi walks to the edge of the plank. As she steels her resolve, a voice calls out to her. "Fly, Kairi. Just believe and you can do it." Kairi leaps off the plank.
As she falls to almost certain doom, her mind is full of thoughts. I cannot give up not yet. Because I believe. I believe that I will see him again. But after a few seconds, Kairi did not feel anything.
Kairi opens her eyes to see that floating in midair. "She's flying," exclaims Donald and Goofy. Kairi is astonished that is flying although the crocodile is disappointed that he lost his meal. In the confusion, something flies past Smee and steals the lantern holding Tinker Bell.
"Peter Pan," exclaims everyone. Peter releases Tinker Bell from the lantern. "You're back," said Kairi. "Hey, you stuck around for Tink. Of course, I am going to stick around for you," replies Peter.
"Where's Wendy," asks Kairi. "She's safe and sound," answers Peter. While Peter and Kairi chat, Smee decides to take a rowboat and leave. But the Heartless are staying to the heroes. Peter and Kairi charge at the Heartless. "Come on, you cowards," provoke Peter. "You're all going down," adds Kairi.
The Heartless decides to take the fight to the sky. While Peter and Kairi have no problems with this, both Donald and Goofy struggle to keep up. Kairi notices this and shouts to them. "Come on, you two! Just believe! Believe you can fly!"
Upon hearing this, Goofy instantly starts flying. Donald tries to fly, but he just falls flat on his face. Kairi, Goofy, and Peter face the Heartless midair while Donald uses the shrouds to help. They sent all the Heartless overboard into the murky waters.
"The only one left is Captain Hook," exclaims Peter. Kairi and Peter flies to the door of the cabin Captain Hook hid in. "Watch this," whisper Peter as he knocks on the door. A frightened voice calls out from the cabin.
"Is that you, Smee? Did you finish off those squats?" Kairi and Peter chuckle at Captain Hook's obliviousness. "Aye, captain. Walked the plank, every one of 'em," Peter said while impersonating Smee.
"Good job, Smee," Captain Hook exclaims as he burst out of his cabin. Captain Hook did not notice Kairi and Peter. Peter uses this chance to do a sneak attack on Captain Hook. Captain Hook is surprised to see Peter. "I threw every one of your cowards into the ocean, Captain," taunts Peter.
"Blast you, Peter Pan! No more playing around," exclaim a furious Captain Hook. He charges straight at Peter. But Peter easily dodges Captain Hook's attack. Peter's dodge causes Captain Hook to accidentally fall off the ship and into the ocean. Captain Hook frantically swims off on the horizon with the crocodile chasing after him.
Peter could not stop himself from laughing at Captain Hook's expense. Despite the victory, Kairi could not bring celebrate. She fails to help her two dear friends. "What's wrong, Kairi," asks Donald. "Oh! Nothing," replies Kairi.
After finishing laughing, Peter calls out to Kairi. "Come on." Kairi wonders what Peter is talking about. "Tink! Onward to take Wendy back home! It's the first flight of Captain Peter Pan's pirate ship," Peter as he is donning some of Captain Hook's clothing.
Tinker Bell then flies all over the ship while spreading her pixie dust. Suddenly, the pirate ship takes to the sky. It is one thing to fly by yourself, but to ride on a flying pirate ship. Kairi is speechless. Peter drives the ship towards his secret hideout where they pick up Wendy and Peter's other friends, the Lost Boys.
As Peter drives Wendy home, Donald and Goofy play with the Lost Boys for Captain Hook's treasure. Meanwhile, Kairi decides to hang out with Wendy. "I'm sorry that you couldn't rescue your friend. You will find him, Kairi. Just do not give up," Wendy tells Kairi.
"Thanks, Wendy. I think I understand now. I was able to fly when I believed. If you believe, you can do anything, right. Deep within my heart, I know that no matter how far away he is or long it takes. I will be reunited with Sora again," Kairi tells Wendy.
The pirate ship then arrives at a huge clock tower. "Wow. I've never seen a clock tower up close like this before," remark Wendy. Kairi marvel at the clock tower. "What's that," ask Wendy. Kairi tries to look closer to see what Wendy is talking about.
To her bewilderment, Kairi finds something she did not expect to see. On the clock face, lies a keyhole. "Peter! Can I get off the ship for a minute," asked Kairi. "Sure. But you cannot-," Peter answers before Kairi leaps off the ship.
Kairi flies towards the clock face. "Whoa, pretty impressive," commented Peter. Kairi points her Keyblade at the keyhole and seals it.
After the keyhole was sealed, Peter drops off Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Wendy at the clock tower. "What a beautiful view. I can see the entire city from here," Wendy tells Peter as they look down upon the sparkling town.
Wendy looks straight at Peter and asks, "Peter, must we say goodbye?" "Afraid so. But we can see each other anytime. If you do not forget Neverland, that is," Peter answers as the Lost Boys and Tinker Bell watches.
Peter turns to Kairi and says, "Kairi, you should come to visit Neverland again. We can all fly together." After a few seconds, Kairi replies, "Yeah, I'll come back someday. I promise!"
The four watches as Peter and the Lost Boys sails away, towards the stars in the beautiful moonlight.
K Report 9: Dream
As the girl watches the three friends leave, she wishes that she could have a chance to fly and be free as a bird. The girl imagines soaring through the sky. Suddenly, a new image pops into her thoughts.
An unbelievable sight. A world of nothing but sea and sky. She walks across the surface of the water without falling in. But she is not alone there. The boy and a strange creature are with her. "Beautiful isn't it," the boy said to her.
Despite the unrealistic of the scene, the girl knows for some reason that it happened. The girl wonders how she got there or why those two were with her.
The girl decides to move on to her location in the memory. She is awestruck by the fact that such a beautiful world could exist. She wishes that she would be there instead of this desolate darkness. But no one grants her wish.
Despite no response, the girl feels that she remembered something important.
She knows that she is closer than ever to remembering who she is. Fired up, the girl returns to the three friends to see that they have arrived at a strange place.