Author's Note: Sorry that the last chapter wasn't that good, but I'll try and make up for it for this chapter and future chapters. Anyway, we are at the new Disney world of...*Drum rolls* Atlantis!
This is the second Disney world that has the voice actor Jim Varney who voiced Slinky in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, and also voiced Cookie in Atlantis and who sadly died before the film was even released. Rest In Peace, Jim Varney.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.
CH19: Expedition Of The Lost Empire.
Meanwhile, in Midgar...
While Cloud, Zack, Vincent, Rufus and the Turks knew that their friend Reeve Tuesti wouldn't be able to find all of the answers they were looking for in regards to the situation of Chaos which also resulted the threat the Lifestream and other realms of the dead were in, he was doing his best which was enough for them. Plus, Sora and the others were on a mission to the answers themselves, so they would be back at some point for an update.
Reeve Tuesti was a man in his late thirties with smooth black hair and small goatee, and wearing a business suit that was a slightly different to that of the Turks. As Commissioner of WRO, he was in charge of the things that were happening in the Organization.
"Reeve, what did you find?" Rufus questioned after a little while.
"Not much on Chaos other than what we already know. However, via using Cait Sith, what we found is quite alarming." Reeve began as everyone was seated in the WRO's lounge.
"So...what is it?" Reno asked, curiously.
"Along with the research on the Lifestream by you-know-who, an unusual report has been found among other things in Nibelhiem. There's a report page of a journal of sorts which is, unfortunately, written by Hojo." Reeve explained.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Cloud commented sarcastically. Of course Hojo had to be involved with another of these things that involves research. That sick man just didn't know when to quit, did he?
"So, what's it say?" Zack asked.
"It's faded, so the recovery team's already on their way back with the page itself. Though, there are a few things that are written on it that I was able to at least understand a little. 'The Eye on the strange weapon the new visitor is quite astonishing. He insisted on solving the mystery of it as it when he gazed at it and even just wielding it, he sees images in his mind...images of the things that are yet to come.'" Reeve explained.
"Xehanort's Keyblade." Vincent correctly guessed, frowning in concern.
"What you're saying is the eye design on Xehanort's Keyblade is more than just a design. It was able to enable Xehanort to see into the future." Tseng theoried.
"I don't know much about either of them, but you may be right." Reeve agreed with Tseng. "
Rufus frowned deeply at this new development. "I am fully aware that this is just a strange speculation, but given the description, perhaps the eye design itself...may not be a design at all." He spoke up.
This got everyone else's attention when the President said this.
"Are you saying that it's actually a real eye that sees into the future placed into that Keyblade?" Cloud questioned, skeptical and admittedly alarmed at the same time. The idea itself was ridiculous and disgusting, but at the same time, given what Sora and the others had said, how Xehanort is always somehow one step ahead before the evil man's demise, it made a creepy kind of sense.
"Wait a minute! Are you sayin' that someone else used that keyblade and put their eye into it and somehow managed to see the future through it or somethin'!?" Reno exclaimed, disgusted.
"Ugh. That's not a nice thought." Zack groaned, cringing in disgust. Elena looked like she was about to be sick even at the very thought of it, and he, Cloud and almost everyone else, even Vincent, Tseng and Rufus, couldn't blame the blond-haired woman.
"Sora and Riku managed to destroy it, though." Rude reminded, thinking back of how the two teenagers smashed it during the battle against Xehanort, the Seekers of Darkness and Deepground.
"Thank Ifrit for that." Reno sighed, shaking his head at the thought of the Keyblade itself. "Seriously, though. Who the hell would go and pull their eye out and put into a weapon that's used by somebody else to cause trouble? And another thing, how can you see the future before it even happens?"
"Maybe that's why it was easy for Hojo to return and join Xehanort a while back. Because of this." Elena thought.
"Most likely." Tseng agreed. "However, it does not matter as both are no longer alive."
"Indeed. Our main concerns are Chaos and the turmoil of the realms of the dead. Still, this information may provide clues to what we're up against." Rufus interjected.
"Not to mention Aced and Maleficent." Cloud added, "And also finding Yen Sid, Genesis and Angeal."
"Just hope they're alright." Zack muttered, worriedly. He thought back of when both Angeal and Genesis risked their lives to take Aced away from Port Royal only to end up captured by him and then Aced had gone and abducted Mickey's mentor Yen Sid. He could still remember how devastated the king had been upon learning that the sorcerer was gone.
Cloud agreed with his friend, and not only that, he was worried about Tifa and the others in Radiant Garden. But who's to say that Aced might be keeping an eye on either them or Sora's group, or possibly both into what is going on. One thing was certain; They would have to find out sooner or later.
{Atlantis}
Back with Sora and his group...
When Sora and the others had approached another new world that looked like it was surrounded by water, some of them thought it was Atlantica. But when they teleported from the gummiship and had noticed tale-sign difference, it wasn't the familiar world Sora, Donald and Goofy were thinking it was. Instead, they, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Terra, Aqua, Ven, Skuld, Jack and Myde, on their quest to now also locate this 'Lauriam' person that had killed Strelizia before she and her Chirithy were revived by Cosmos a month back, found themselves on the metal deck of an enormous military ship sailing in the middle of the ocean.
"Wow...this ship is huge!" Ven said in awe.
"...Where's the Captain's Quarters?" Jack asked, glancing around at the large ship that was nothing like back in his world and due to the metal and it's size, he couldn't feel much of the ocean underneath him as he would on the Black Pearl.
"Probably somewhere inside." Mickey shrugged.
"Oh." The pirate muttered, before going up to the railing and smiled as he gazed at the sea all around him and the others. "I really miss the open ocean." He muttered, staring at the ocean longingly. This wasn't his world, but it was close enough for him at the moment.
"At least someone's happy to see familiar scenary." Terra commented with a smirk.
"You do realise that you're talking about a pirate who spend most of his life sailing hte ocean, right?" Isa reminded with a raised eyebrow.
"Too bad that guy ahead of us isn't enjoying the boat ride as much as Jack is." Myde commented, staring in front of him a little bit on the deck.
"What are you talking about?" Donald asked.
Everyone else looked to see what Myde was talking about and saw that he was right. Just about ten feet from where the worldly travellers were standing, was a young, tall, slender man with light brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a green trench coat over a white shirt and tan pants, and a pair of wireframe eye glasses...and he looked a little green as he threw up over the side of the ship, which made the group realise that the poor guy was incidentally sea-sick.
"Carrots...why is there always carrots? I didn't even eat carrots." The young man groaned.
"Are you alright, sir?"
Startled while still a little bit sea-sick, but grateful for the distraction, the young man turned to gaze a group of unfamiliar thirteen people, a child-sized mouse, a duck and a dog, all in clothing, standing there and some looking at him concerned.
It had been Skuld who asked.
"Oh, uh, y-yeah, I'm fine. J-*Urp!*-Just not used to this right now." The young muttered, while briefly holding a hand over his mouth when his stomach threatened to exile the contents inside.
"Clearly you never set sail in the sea." Jack said, only to grunt painfully when Riku elbowed him in the ribs, causing the pirate to glare at the teenager before quickly adding when he saw the angry looks from his companions, "But you will get used to it if you keep on going from time to time. Savvy?"
"Well, this is my first expedition." The young man admitted.
"There's a expedition goin' on?" Mickey asked, curiously.
"Wait, you mean this is your first expedition too?"
"Well...sorta." Sora replied, hesitatedly. "So, what's this all about?"
The young man smiled despite still feeling queasy in the stomach, and explained, "Everybody on this ship including myself are searching for the lost continent of Atlantis."
"Atlantis?" Roxas, Ven and Xion asked, curiously. It sounded extremely similiar to Atlantica. In fact, it was almost exactly the same except the endings of the two names are different.
"Atlantis? You mean the Lost Empire?" Jack asked, surprised.
"Let me guess; you know about that story too, don't you?" Isa sighed, resisting to roll his eyes.
"I've heard about it too." Kairi spoke up, "In sea-stories, they say that Atlantis was lost in a flood and sank into the ocean thousands of years ago."
"They also said that the city itself had these giants that protected the city, but one time they failed due to the flood." Sora added, before shrugging, "At least that's what Riku and I heard. I never thought it would actually be real."
"So the lost City is indeed real." Jack mumured, clearly interested. "That's interesting."
"Geez, you guys are such sea-geeks. Ya' know that, right?" Lea teased, smirking.
"So, how do you find this lost civilization?" Aqua asked, concerned.
"Yeah, especially since it's underwater." Terra added.
"Simple," The young man said, pulling out a book with a brown cover from his shoulder bag and held it up for the others to see, "We'll be following the directions that have been inscribed in this book, the Shepherd's Journal. It's to contain the account of Atlantis and it's exact whereabouts."
"Golly, that's amazing!" Mickey exclaimed.
"Hey, do guys think we should go with? Atlantis sounds like a cool place." Sora asked to his companions.
"It might be dangerous...but I've always wondered what Atlantis looked like. I'm in!" Kairi agreed, after a moment.
"If there is a chance to actually get to the lost city, I might as well go too. Always had interest in seeing it...without drowning." Jack said.
"At least we know where we're going. I'll go too." Aqua replied.
"Sure, count me in." Lea shrugged.
It wasn't long before everyone else agreed to join, even though Skuld and Donald were both uncertain. On the other hand, the Heartless could've already arrived in this world and maybe there was a chance they could end up running into Lauriam or Aced. Sora turned to the young man and said, "Is it okay that we come too?"
"Sure. The more the merrier." The man said, "My name's Milo Thatch. I'm a linguist."
"I'm Sora." Sora introduced himself, before indicating the rest of the group, "This is Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Ven, Skuld, Terra, Aqua, Jack and Myde."
Just then, a loud voice boomed out through the intercom, "Attention. All hands to the launch bay. To whoever took the "L" from the Motor Pool sign-Ha ha, we are all very amused."
Shrugging while some of the worldly travellers had been startled by the voice, Sora and the others followed Milo through the open doorway and into a large, open room with all kinds of trucks, cranes, and wielding machines. The worldly travellers and even Milo were amazed by the sights before them, just as a figure appeared in front of them, their back facing the group.
"Excuse me? Uh, the seventeen of us need to, uh, report in?" Milo asked the person.
"Yes, Mr. Thatch?" The figure turned, smiling at Milo, revealling to be a tall slender woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a green trench coat over a black coloured outfit. Immediately Aqua, Riku, Terra, Isa, Lea, and Skuld all sensed something not quite righ with her.
Milo cried out in alarm, as he recongised the woman, "Aah! Uh, it's you!"
"Whoa...a military lady!" Myde exclaimed, wide-eyed.
Jack blinked, stunned himself. "Never thought they would allow a woman in the navy." before cringing, "Then again, women can be just as deadly with a sword when they want to be."
The woman turned her gaze to the worldly travellers and questioned them, looking a bit unamused, "And you all are?"
"Jack Sparrow." Jack replied first, again mentally adding the 'Captain' title in his mind.
"Uh-uh-I'm Myde, ma'am!" Myde stammered, saluting nervously, much to Isa and Lea's embarrassments.
"I'm Sora." Sora added.
"My name's Kairi." Kairi said.
"Riku." Riku simply said.
"I'm Mickey." Mickey introduced himself.
"Name's Lea. Got it memorized?" Lea tapped the side of his head as he said his catch-phrase.
"Donald." Donald said.
"Name's Goofy." Goofy added.
"My name is Isa." Isa politely said, with slight suspicion.
"I'm Roxas." Roxas said.
"And I'm Xion." Xion added.
"I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven." Ven added.
"I'm Terra." Terra added.
"My name is Aqua." Aqua added.
"And my name is Skuld." Skuld concluded.
"Quite a crowd." The woman admitted, before introducing herself, "My name is Lieutenant Helga Sinclair," before turning her gaze to Myde, "Not ma'am."
She then returned her attention to all of the worldly travellers, saying, "Are you all new recruits?"
"Uh, y-yeah." Sora replied, with a feeling of uneasiness.
Before Helga could speak further, a voice then snapped behind her, "Blondie! I've got a bone to pick with you."
The group watched as a crane lowered a crate in their direction and inside was a short, elderly man with a white beard and eyebrows, wearing a blue overalls, white shirt and a brown hat.
"Hold those thoughts." Helga sighed to Milo and the worldly travellers, turning to the old man, talking to him with annoyance.
"So, you know her?" Lea asked to Milo about Helga.
"Yes, she took me to an old friend of my Grandpa, Mr. Whitmore who gave me the journal. It actually came from my grandfather and he gave it to Mr. Whitmore before he died so he could give it to me." Milo replied.
"Guess that mean's your grandpa was an explorer, right?" Myde guessed.
Before Milo could answer, the elder man who was talking to Helga, was complaining as he went through a small box with items and supplies, "You done stuffed my wagon full to bustin' with non-essentials. Look at all this...cinnamon, oregano... Cilantro? What in the cockadoodle is cilantro?"
He then grabbed hold of lettuce, and to the dumbfoundment of the group, the man asked as though he didn't know what it was, "And what is this?"
"That would be lettuce." Helga replied.
"Lettuce? Lettuce!?" The man asked in disbelief.
"He seriously doesn't know what lettuce is?" Isa asked, with a look that said 'Seriously?'
Apparently even Helga caught on to this, because she pointed out while grabbing the lettuce from the old man, "It's a vegetable, Cookie. The men need the four basic food groups."
"I've got your four basic food groups!" The old man, named Cookie, yelled, before counting with his fingers, "Beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard!"
The worldly travellers and Milo all glanced at each other with confused expressions, each of them even knowing that Cookie's list were not on the four basic food groups, before a buzzing signal filled the air.
Helga shoved the lettuce into Cookie's chest which also shoved him backwards, saying, "All right, cowboy. Pack it up and move it out."
"Attention. All hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress." The voice in the intercom announced.
The next thing Sora, his friends and Milo knew, the entire room shifted and they all suddenly found themselves standing on a large elevator, with the platform slowly descending them deeper and deeper into the ship.
As soon as the elevator came to a halt, the group spotted a very large, brown painted, metallic submarine in the middle of the room, containing a large round-shaped cockpit with orange windows on the front. The name "Ulysses" was written on the side of the giant vessel. Groups of workers and vehicles were all over the place.
The worldly travellers and even Milo stared in awe at the large submarine.
Lea ended up letting out long impressed whistle. "Now that's an awesome ride."
"...What does it do?" Jack asked, amazed and confused at the same time.
"It goes underwater, so that way people who are ridin' in it can go under the sea without drowing." Mickey explained, before admitting, "But gosh, I've never seen a submarine so big before."
"Don't you think doing that would make you a little...claustrophobic, though?" Skuld asked, feeling uneasy.
"You're not scared of a submarine, are you?" Myde asked, with a raised eyebrow as he, the girl next to her and everyone else went across the deck to the sub's entry ramp.
"Myde, most of us never been in a submarine before." Isa sighed, shaking his head.
"So?" The young man shrugged, still not seeing what the problem is.
Only for someone to accidently rammed by someone behind him. Myde and the others turned to see a tall slender man about Terra's height, with black flat-topped hair, a thick mustache, gray gloves and a black coat.
"Hey, if you kids, an' ladies are lookin' for the pony rides, they're back there." The man spoke in an italian accent.
As the man walked past, Milo picked up a red cylinder with a piece of black rope sticking out on the top, calling out to the stranger, "Excuse me. Excuse me? You dropped your..."
Milo trailled off when he and the others realised that the object was actually an explosive, one that Myde immmediately recongised and pointed a shaky finger in warning. "...Dy-dy-dy-dynamite." chuckling nervously.
While the man spun back and accepted the dynamite, Jack couldn't help but question, "Out of curosity, mate. What other items do you have?"
"Oh, eh, gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads...fuses, wicks, glue, and...paper clips. Big ones." The black-haired man shrugged. "You know, just, uh, office supplies."
Sora, Milo and the rest of the group shared glances as none of them had any idea of this complicated explanation, before shrugging, setting that thought aside for the time being.
"Milo! Where've you been?" Another voice called out behind the group, causing the worldly travellers and Milo to turn to see a medium-height elderly man with white hair and beard, wearing a blue sailors uniform. Next to him was a tall, muscular man, two inches taller than Terra, with grey hair, brown eyes and dressed in a soldier uniform.
"Mr. Whitmore." Milo greeted as he and Sora's group approached.
"Well now, who do we have here?" Whitmore asked to Sora's group.
"I'm Sora." Sora introduced himself before again introducing his group to the two other men, while Aqua, Terra, Lea, Isa, Skuld, Riku, and even Donald, and Kairi sensed about the muscular man despite that he seemed friendly. Even Sora and the others sensed this, and decided to be careful.
"Nice to meet you. You all must be the new recruits Helga told me about." Whitmore said, introducing himself while shaking hands with the worldly travellers, "Preston Whitmore-founder of this-here expedition." then gestured to them and Milo, "And Milo, this is Commander Rourke. He led the team that brought the Journal back."
"Milo Thatch. Pleasure to meet the grandson of old Thaddeus. I see you got that journal. Nice pictures, but...I prefer a good western myself, and it's a pleasure meet you all as well." Rourke acknowlaged, "Don't know how he did it, but Whitmore really hired the best of the best."
"Likewise, Commander." Isa replied.
"Boy, when you settle a bet, y-you settle a bet." Milo smiled to Whitmore.
"Well, your granddad always believed you couldn't put a price on the pursuit of knowledge." The older man nodded.
"Well, uh, believe me this'll be small change compared to the value of what we're gonna learn on this trip." The younger man replied.
"Yes, this should be enriching for all of us." Rouke reflected, and this flared up suspicions even more in the worldly travellers who decided to do this with caution, and Myde certainly wasn't taking his chances, not like with the Prospector just a short time ago.
"Attention, all personnel. Launch will commence in 15 minutes." The voice in the intercom spoke once more.
Rourke saluted to Whitmore as he started up a ramp just before the group. Milo followed Sora and the others as they walked up next not even a second later, Milo called back, "Bye, Mr. Whitmore!"
As an enormous, iron door came down to seal off the entrance, Whitmore shouted back, "Make us proud, boy!"
Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goof, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Aqua, Ven, Terra, Skuld, Myde and Jack quickly followed Milo and Rourke into the cockpit. Several walkways and platforms were scattered about the room with various people walking about, and numerous sailors relay the message of, "Rig ship for dive!"
On a higher platform, Rourke commanded to Helga with him, "Lieutenant, take her down."
Nodding, Helga proclaimed, "Diving officers, submerge the ship. Make the depth 1-5-0 feet."
As the message was relayed onward, a warning siren started to beep. The group instantly realized it was meant for anyone outside to be a safe distance away. Sora turned back to the window and he spotted Milo to his right. The young linguist was peering out to watch the launch up close. The worldly travellers followed Milo's eyes and noticed that Whitmore was watching them from the outside.
A final warning bell sounded as the cranes holding the submarine released their grip and the entire vehicle landed gently into the open hatch of water below. Sora caught one more glance at Whitmore before the submarine dipped below the surface. The man was giving a thumbs-up with his other hand behind his back. If Sora had been behind him, he would've noticed Whitmore's fingers were crossed.
Within seconds, the Ulysses was descending into the depths of the sea.
It was quite an amazing experience for them, especially being underneath the water's surface without actually getting wet or drowning.
"Wow, this feels kind of...weird." Terra commented.
"This is so amazing." Xion said in awe, her hands on the orange glass.
It was a beginning of another adventure.
Short time later, Sora, Milo and the rest of the group were reported to the bridge where there were other people on board including Rourke and Helga, along with the black-haired man they encountered earlier, a short fat man that looked french and had goggles that could zoom in and out rapidly, a tall man in tanned skin, and a teenaged girl with black hair that looked like a young engineer.
If Sora remembered correctly, the short guy was...well, he was nick-named Mole and had looked like to be a digger. The tall tanned man was a doctor named Sweet, the guy from the ship earlier is Vinny, and the teenaged girl was Audrey.
"Welcome to the bridge." Rourke greeted, before gesturing the worldly travellers to join the other people which included a few sailors, "Please stand with the others."
When Sora and his group did so, while Rourke spoke up, "OK, everybody. I want you to give Mr. Thatch...your undivided attention."
Milo timidly approached it and turned to face everyone. The linguist gulped before speaking.
"Good afternoon," Milo said anxiously as he started to fidget with his shirt collar. "C-can everyone hear me okay?"
The eerie quiet that followed apparently answered his question. Milo hesitated for a brief moment. "H-how about some slides?"
From the corner of his eye, Roxas thought he saw Vinny and Audrey glancing at one another. Milo flipped on the slide projector and pulled out a single slide from a box sitting beside it. "T-the first slide is a depiction of a creature," he continued. "A creature so frightening that sailors were said to be driven mad by the mere sight of it!"
Sora, Roxas, Xion, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Myde and Skuld were starting to feel slightly uneasy when Milo inserted the slide into the projector. To their and everyone else's astonishment and sudden amusement, the slide contained a black-and-white snapshot of Milo in a swimsuit on the beach. He was covered in a variety of inflatable water toys, a fishing pole, and water wings. Beside him was a cat reaching for the sky with its front legs crossed and its mouth wide open in a friendly snarl.
"Ah ha, ha ha ha ha!" Myde bursted out laughing, unable to hold it in. Pretty much everyone bursted out laughing even though Mickey tried to hide his laughter by covering his mouth with his hand, Aqua, Kairi, Skuld and Xion doing the same.
Lea facepalmed himself while snickering in amusement, "Heheheheheh!"
"Uh, I'm sorry." Milo shyly reflected as he rapidly removed the slide. "That's... wrong."
"Geez. I used to take lunch money from guys like this." Audrey said in a spanish accent, which had Vinny snort in amusement when the girl next to him said this.
A moment later, Milo placed another slide into the projector. It was a drawing of an enormous lobster-shaped creature attacking a ship. The sight of it did make the worldly travellers nervous, reminding them instantly of the Kracken attacking both another ship and the Black Pearl. Mickey found himself gulping nervously at the sight of it, Myde slinking behind Lea who raised an eyebrow at the younger man skeptically, and Jack cringing at the sight of it.
"Okay. Now this is an illustration of the Leviathan — the creature said to be guarding the entrance to Atlantis." Milo explained.
'A different kind of Leviathan. I know there are other kinds with the same name.' Skuld thought to herself, but wasn't going to admit it.
"It wouldn't happen to feast on people, would it?" Jack asked, with uncertainty.
"I don't think so. It's a mythical sea serpent," Milo replied, then continued. "He's described in the Book of Job. T-the Bible says, 'Out of his mouth go burning lights, sparks of fire shoot out'. But more than likely, it's a carving, or a-a sculpture to frighten the superstitious."
Jack, Mickey and Myde all sighed in relief.
"That would also make them turn back if it is a sculpture, yes?" Aqua theoried. There was something about this that made her doubt that it was just a statue like Milo believed, but then again, she might be starting to become superstitious herself. Still, it never hurt to be careful.
Sora unfolded his arms, then asked what everyone else was probably thinking, "So, where do we go next after we find it?"
"When do we dig?" Mole blurted out in an excited manner.
Milo flipped off the slide projector and picked up a marker from the whiteboard. "Actually, we don't have to dig," he informed everyone, drawing on the board. "You see, according to the journal, the path to Atlantis will take us down a tunnel at the bottom of the ocean."
He drew a bubble-shaped object on the board and pointed at it. "And we'll curve into an air pocket right here, where we'll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis. Kind of like the grease trap in your sink."
Milo finished drawing what turned out to be a sketched map of the path he had just been discussing. From what most of the worldly travellers could tell, none of the path indicated the path of Heartless. On the other hand, with something like the Leviathan and the soldiers in this submarine, Sora and most of the others were troubled, especially by both Rourke and Helga. They had to be careful with the two of them.
"Not only he's a linguist, but he's a photographer and a plummer too? Man, Milo's a busy guy." Myde commented.
"Only 'cause you're lazy most of time, and I don't mean the last time when we had to find you a little while back." Lea pointed out.
The thoughts and small conversation was cut off when a voice called out to Rourke, "Captain? You'd better come look at this."
Everyone turned their focus over to a sailor at the steering mechanism for the submarine. Rourke called out, "Okay! Class dismissed!"
While everyone else left, Sora quickly followed Milo as the linguist was already following Helga and Rourke up to the railing near the sailor. The rest of the group and peered over the railing into the deep, darkness of the ocean beyond the windows. "Give me exterior lights," Rourke ordered.
As everyone gazed out of the window, a pair of searchlights flipped on and started revealing a landscape of towering rock formations resembling columns reaching for a ceiling to steady. The pillars of rock were within what would have been perceived as a narrow canyon with steep walls. Yet, it wasn't the rocks that had instantly everyone's attention, but what was scattered all around the rocks. The entire seafloor was covered by countless broken pieces of wood and metal of what appeared to be countless sunken ships.
"Holy, Shiva..." Myde whispered, stunned.
"Look at that!" Helga muttered, just as stunned and slightly horrified.
Milo readjusted his eyeglasses before he added, "There're ships here from every era!"
"There must be millions!" Sora exclaimed in a soft voice, as though he was worried that something out there that caused all of this could hear him.
"Holy cow..." Mickey muttered, wide-eyed. "I wonder what could've caused all of this."
"There's no way a storm could've done this. Right?" Lea asked, suddenly feeling extremely uneasy.
Kairi was speechless, stunned and horrified by the sight of it. Just then, something to the right caught the corner of her eyes and she sharply turned to see what it was in alarm, and for a split second, she thought she saw the large black rock on the seabed suddenly move before it vanished underneath the submarine before she could get a full glance of it. It was then that the unease she felt earlier about the Leviathan grew worse.
"So um, where are we?" Ven asked to Milo.
The linguist reached into his shoulder bag and pulled out the Shepherd's Journal before reading in...gibberish, "Pre-desh-tem… loe-ta-nug… na-gehpt… '"
"Uh...can you repeat that, please?" Lea asked, dumbfounded.
"I might not know the full language of that book, but I think I caught what he said. Something along the lines of 'Lair' and 'Gateaway'." Jack commented.
"How do you know?" Sora asked, confused and amazed.
"Had quite the time to speak the language of cannibals, mate." Jack grinned.
This made Lea, Isa, Roxas and Xion groan at the memories of that incident of the Cannibals thinking that Jack was their 'god' in human form.
"That explains why you were made their chief." Lea grumbled.
Milo pointed at the page he'd been reading and fully translated the text, "'Enter the lair of the Leviathan, There you will find the path to the gateway'."
"Ah! Almost got it." Jack grinned, happily. "And I was right about the two words."
"Well, I'll be doggone." Donald admittedly praised.
"I wouldn't have a clue about the writting in the book." Aqua smiled at both Milo and Jack.
All at once, a voice called out, "Commander, I think you should hear this."
The group all looked over another railing toward the source of the voice and spotted a large table with a wireless communication system. Sitting at it was an older woman wearing an olive overcoat and helmet and a headset over her head. She also had a cigarette in her mouth. Rourke sighed, "Yes, Ms. Packard. What is it?"
"I'm picking up something on the hydro-phone I think you should hear," Ms. Packard responded.
"Put it on speakers."
With a flip of a switch, the entire cockpit became almost complete with silence. The only exception was the loud, water-infested roar coming through the speakers all around the room. Sora and the other worldly travellers started to listen carefully, but none of them were certain whether it were some random sea-life or a gigantic Heartless.
"Guys," Kairi spoke, uneasily, "I'm not sure if it was my imagination, but I also saw something move a little while ago."
"Like what?" Riku asked, concerned.
"Like it was something...huge." The Princess of Heart answered.
"Combined with the sound we're all hearing, I have a feeling you're right." Skuld said, frowning in concern, as she watched Rourke and Helga approach the wireless-communication station.
"What is it?" The commander asked. "A pod of whales?"
"Uh-uh," Ms. Packard shook her head. "Bigger."
"It sounds metallic," Helga commented. She reached for the dials on the communication device. "Could be an echo off one of the rocks."
Ms. Packard glared up at the lieutenent. "You want to do my job? Be my guest."
"Is it just me, or is that getting louder?" Milo asked.
Goofy scratched the back of his head, "Gawrsh, it kinda does sound like it's gettin' louder, doesn't it?"
"Please tell me it's not a giant Octopus or something more deadly." Myde moaned in dismay, remembering the Kracken's first and second attacks. To his relief, the echoing sound faded, leaving everything in silence.
After a moment, Helga shrugged, "Well, whatever it was, it's gone now."
"Well," Ven began with a weak grin, "At least it wasn't a Heartless."
"Somehow, that doesn't make me feel any safer." Lea said, worriedly. Something horrible and tragic was about to happen. He could just feel it...and he was terrified with the thought that it was about to happen in the next mere seconds.
Rourke turned his focus to the sailor at the steering mechanism. "Helmsman," he instructed. "Bring us about. Tighten our search pattern and slow us—"
A violent movement suddenly threw everyone off their feet.
"Whoa! What was that!?" Roxas exclaimed.
Jack, Myde and Goofy grabbed onto the railing and gazed out of the window. All three of them instantly regretted it as something huge and monsterous was outside swimming all around the submarine and obviously attacking it and everyone including themselves inside it.
"...Oh, bugger." Jack muttered, eyes wide in terror.
"...If that's the Leviathan...then we're done for!" Myde shrieked in terror.
"Kairi was right! She did see somethin'!" Goofy screamed.
Sora and the rest of the worldly travellers and everyone else in the sub cockpit immediately stared out the window. They could all see a giant creature swimming in the deep sea a short distance away. It was a huge, metallic-looking lobster with glowing, dark-red eyes. Myde was right; it is the Leviathan!
"I knew it was huge, but I didn't think it was that huge!" Riku exclaimed, eyes wide.
Rourke turned to Helga while pointing at the not so distant monster, ordering her with sarcasm, "Tell Cookie to melt the butter and bring out the bibs! I want this lobster served up on a silver platter!"
"Load the torpedo bases! Sub-pod crews — battle stations!" Helga ordered to the crew immediately, just as another violent tremor struck the room.
As the worldly travellers got to their feet quickly, Lea declared, "I'm goin' to the Sub-pods!"
"I'll go with you!" Isa declared with determination.
"Me too!" Terra added.
"Count me in!" Riku added.
"Donald, Goofy! Go with them to the Sub-pods!" Mickey ordered to Donald who was clinging to the railing like his life depended on it, before the king and Goofy pulled him back onto the platform.
The two nodded before they, Terra, Riku, Lea, and Isa hurried off with Goofy alongside several other pairs of people. Among the others were Vinny and Mole. They quickly reached a long, narrow room on one side of the submarine. Everyone leaped into the two seats in each pod. The hatches closed shut and the sailors, soldiers, etc. inside each pod grasped the controls.
Lea and Isa took one, Riku and Terra took another, and Donald and Goofy had the last one. Lea, Riku and Donald all had the shooter-seats while Isa, Terra and Goofy were in the pilot seats as the hatches came down. Even though some of them didn't know much about these things, they had to at least give it a try.
Less than five minutes when the group left for the Sub-pods, Leviathan reached out and grabbed the submarine with its smaller left claw, which was still gigantic to everyone else trapped inside. The creature violently yanked the vehicle toward its face.
Kairi screamed as she was thrown over to the window. Fortunately, Sora reacted quickly and grabbed her left wrist with his with hand, and leaned on the railing while hanging onto his friend. Mickey on the other hand landed roughly on the window with Milo. As he looked down while sitting up, Mickey was completely speechless as he let out a terrified scream at what he saw below them. Directly through the window was one of the Leviathan's glaring, red eyes. Seeing it at such a close distance, Mickey's heart began to race.
The hearts of Sora, Kairi, Roxas, Xion, Aqua, Ven, Skuld, Myde and Jack began to race as well, as they all heard Milo, who got to his knees, exclaim in shock, "Jiminy Christmas! It's a machine!"
"This is WAY bigger than the Kracken!" Ven blurted out, shocked as he and Xion helped Sora pull Kairi back up, while Aqua, Roxas, Myde and Jack all pulled both Mickey and Milo back onto the platform.
"...I feel like a spec of dust." Jack muttered, scaredly.
"Welcome to the club." Myde shuddered.
"Launch Sub-pods!" Rourke shouted out.
The sub-pod flew swiftly away from the Ulysses, including the three Lea and Isa, Riku and Terra, and Donald and Goofy had taken control, following the rest of the Sub-pods lead. The six of them now saw the Leviathan just up ahead with the main sub trapped in its left claw. Rourke's shouted through the pod's radio system; "Fire!"
Lea, Riku and Donald followed the order, they and the others in other Sub-pods pressing the bottons on the firing joint-sticks and underwater missles flew from the side of their pod and headed straight for the creature. All of the missiles struck the Leviathan in the face. The now-stunned monster released its grip on the Ulysses.
Lea then noticed the Leviathan aiming it's much larger left Claw that was the size of a mountain about to reach out to them, causing him to shout a warning to his best friend next to, "Isa, look out!"
The blue-haired man didn't need to be told twice and barely managed to dodge the Leviathan's enormous claws as it struck two other sub-pods and crushed them. Both men's hearts froze in horror, fearing that those two pods had Riku and Terra and Donald and Goofy in them. With no other choice, Isa guided the Sub-pod away from it and into the open water, as Lea could only glance out as much as he could, praying that four of their friends were alright. In the meantime, the Ulysses fired a wealth of torpedoes from its roof. The weapons struck the Leviathan's side and distracted it long enough for the rest of the sub-pods to catch up with their's.
Their fears of losses increased as the angry Leviathan glared directly at the Ulysses and fired a laser-like line of flame from its mouth. The laser flew in a straight line past the sub-pods and struck the Ulysses's side. To make matters worse, the laser continued through the submarine and struck a rock formation beyond.
"Guys, no!" Lea and Isa shouted in unison, knowing that the rest of their friends, especially Roxas and Xion, were still inside it.
Inside the cockpit of Ulysses, Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Aqua, Ven, Roxas, Xion, Myde, Skuld and Jack gasped despite that not only the Leviathan been driven away by the sub-pods, but the torpedoes Rourke had ordered moments ago had struck the creature as well. At the moment, the main submarine was free from the monster's gripping claws and fleeing from the Leviathan. In addition, the sub-pods were soaring away, too. But still, two sub-pods were lost, and those could've been Lea, Isa, or Riku and Terra, or Doanld and Goofy.
The remaining worldly travellers were knocked down as a tremendous vibration shook the room and the alarm began blaring once more.
"If we survive this, I'm never getting in a submarine as long as I live!" Myde exclaimed.
"Sir, it's Engineering on Four." Mrs. Packard, who was calmly reading a newspaper, said to Rourke from her station.
As Rourke flipped the switch for the Line Four phone, a voice frantically shouted on the other end, which made him wince a little at how loud it was. It was Audrey's voice that shouted. "Rourke! We took a big hit down here and we're taking on water fast! I don't want to be around when it hits the boilers!"
Sora and the others were horrified, as Mickey exclaimed, "Oh no!"
They all realised that the submarine was badly damaged.
"Not good." Jack muttered, dumbstruck.
"How much time do we have?" Rourke asked to Audrey.
"Twenty minutes, if the bulkhead holds." Audrey reported, before adding half a second later. "You better make that five."
Rourke turned to the others and shouted, "You all heard the lady! Let's move!"
The remaining worldly travellers and Milo were swept away with the mobs of people rapidly hurrying out of the room, as Milo asked in the ensuring disaster, "Move where!? Move where!?"
"Just shut it and move!" Jack shouted, while Packard's voice announced, "All hands. Abandon ship."
As everyone dashed out of the cockpit, the crowd soon got scattered through the submarine's many passageways. Sora led Kairi, Mickey, Jack, Myde, Roxas, Xion, Skuld, Ven and Aqua as they and Milo followed Rourke, Helga and Sweet and were quickly joined by Audrey, reaching a catwalk running through the tail of the submarine, while trying to keep their balance as the Submarine was moving due to the ocean's movements.
The group all hurried over to a smaller submarine and reached into the hatch while Helga shouted at them, "Move it, people! Sometime today would be nice!"
"Easy for you to say!" Myde screamed out, as he and everyone else quickly took seats and buckled up on the straps of the seat.
Rourke and Helga took the pilot seats, as the former shouted, "Lieutenant! Get us out of here!"
Helga sealed up the hatch and jumped into the pilot's seat. She kicked a control lever, but nothing happened. She kicked it harder and harder.
"Lieutenant!" Rourke impatiently shouted.
"I'm working on it!" Helga yelled back.
A violent tremor shook the room. Helga took advantage of this to kick the control lever with all her might. The lever moved and the exit hatch before them blew off. As she steered the submarine, which is called the Aqua-Evac, out of the hatch, Helga called out, "Hang on!"
In the three cockpits, Lea and Isa, Riku and Terra, Donald and Goofy had no idea that their friends in the main submarine or each other in each of the Sub-pods had managed to survive or not. All they knew is, two of each in three were horrified and sensed the terror and loss when the submarine snapped in two approximately where the first laser had struck. Less than a second later, the two sections of the Ulysses shattered into a cloud of smoky water and metallic debris. The fourth of the submarines that had left the main sub's tail was hit by the resulting explosions and exploded in turn.
Despite the terror and heart-break, they knew they had no choice but to follow the surviving submarines.
Kairi buried her face onto Sora's shoulder as she sat to his left, while her friend hugged her as best as he could, eyes shut while the Ulysses had exploded. The rest of their friends also feared that their friends in the Sub-pods had all perished.
Immediately afterwards, Rourke turned to Milo, asking, "Where to, Mr. Thatch?"
Milo was clinging to the journal in his hands. "We're looking for a big 'crevice' of some kind."
Everyone looked out the window to search. As a deep trench in the ocean floor came into view, Jack pointed it out with a shout, "Right there! Hard to starboard below."
Helga called into a specialized phone next to her, "All crafts! Make your mark twenty degrees down-angle!"
Through the radio-communication lines came the confirmation of the other escape submarines and sub-pods. Helga was about to dive the Aqua-Evac into the trench when the Leviathan swam over and began snapping its claws at them.
"Follow their lead!" Lea shouted to Isa who nodded and steered.
Riku in his and Terra's Sub-pod noticed the Leviathan coming closer and shouted, "To the left!"
The older Keyblade wielder nodded and managed to dodge the monster's attack, as did Goofy and Isa, along with Mole and Vinny. As they continued to follow the rest of the submarines, the Leviathan swooped in from behind and started swiping at the survivors. The six other worldly travellers could hear the panicked screams from the other Sub-pods.
"Sacré Bleu!"
"We're getting killed out here!"
Lea turned his head to see the massive sea-monster still behind them and felt his heart rapidly beat faster and faster as panic was starting to overcome him. The Leviathan was unable to get inside and started shooting its laser at the submarines. A few more sub-pods were destroyed. One of the laser beams struck a larger submarine and crippled it. The larger vehicle nearly collided with Lea and Isa's Sub-pod before crashing into the side of the trench and exploding into shattered pieces of metal.
Soon it was only five submarines left and despite the odds, not only did they managed to the Leviathan's laser, they also avoided the rocky walls of the tunnel and soon enough the trench curved around and headed up and well out of the Leviathan's reach.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, all of the remaining submarines reached for the surface of the water directly ahead, and broke through the water's surface.
Lea slumped back in his seat, panting at the near exhaustion of a panic attack, while Isa leaned forward slightly, also breathing heavily.
"That...was a close one." Isa panted.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Lea panted with each word of his sentence.
After a short breather, the two friends climbed up to the hatch before unlocking it and pushed it open. Lea and Isa climbed out and looked around the area that they were now at. From one of the larger submarines, a group of people climbed out and turned on an exterior searchlight. They shined it around what turned out to be a gigantic rock cavern. To their quick relief, as well as the relief of the others who saw them, all of their worldly companions and Milo were safe and alive, and like the two childhood friends, they were amazed of the cavern.
At least they were all alive...but the same wouldn't be said for those who perished by the Leviathan's wrath.
A/N: Phew! That was a long and intensed chapter! I didn't want to break the Leviathan part into two chapters. So I did this instead. So the Atlantis adventure begins!
See you in the next chapter, fellow readers!