"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread," Leon said firmly.
With the defeat of the massive armoured Heartless, an air of peace had blanketed over Traverse Town. The alleyways were as dark and somber as ever, but no threat of Heartless lurked in the shadows anymore. The Keyblade's work was done, and it was time for their group to move on. Leon, Yuffie and Aerith had intercepted them in the First District before their imminent departure with a parting gift for their new friends.
"The shops here carry many useful items, so you should take a look before you go!" Yuffie explained.
Aerith nodded while approaching them, handing Sora a small handful of gold. "Here, this is a gift from all of us to help you on your journey."
"Wow," Sora gasped. It had a light feel, but every piece had a different size, ranging from pebbles to almost a full-size rock. It was called 'munny', and it was the accepted currency in every shop in Traverse Town.
Leon ran his fingers through his hair. "Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up."
They were never sure if the always grumpy Leon was being helpful or serious, but the kind words were appreciated. They spent a few moments exchanging farewells before the Traverse Town trio left them to their business.
"The Gummi ship is outside that gate," Donald explained.
Sora looked at Akira in confusion. She grimaced and raised her hands, as lost as he was. "The…what?" he asked.
"It's our ship," Donald explained with a sigh. You would think him calling it a ship would make it obvious he was talking about their ship…
"Wait 'til you see it!" Goofy said enthusiastically, lightening the mood, "It's one of the best vessels in the kingdom, maintained by Chip and Dale, our finest engineers!"
"Sounds amazing," Akira said with a smile, contemplating whether asking what kinds of animals Chip and Dale were was appropriate.
Donald waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah, but first – Goofy, did you teach them the thing?"
Goofy scratched his chin. "Uh, what thing?"
"You know!"
"Uh, that thing?"
"Yes, that thing!"
"Nope!"
Donald buried his face in his hands, exasperated. "Forget it now, we'll teach it to them later."
Sora looked at Akira with the same confused expression as before. And, like before, she raised her hands and shook her head.
"Sora!" Donald said sternly, stretching his hand out, "Hand over the cash."
Sora's jaw almost hit the floor. He closed his hand, securing the gold from the duck. "What? No!"
"It's for supplies! Unless you want to do the shopping?"
Sora sighed loudly. He didn't mind doing any shopping, but he didn't know any of the shops in the area, let alone what 'supplies' he was talking about. "Ugh, fine," he said, reluctantly handing over the gold Aerith had gifted them.
Donald pulled out a small coin purse and dropped the gold inside, grinning. "Thank you."
Sora rolled his eyes. "Okay, but when can we get going?"
Donald let out an angry quack. "Hold your horses, we're not ready!"
"Why don't you two go ahead and relax for a bit while we load the ship?" Goofy suggested.
Donald stomped off towards the general items store, muttering something unintelligible under his breath while he left the other three behind.
"Aw, don't mind him too much. He might be a bit hard to be around, but he's a swell fella underneath it all," Goofy said, scratching his head.
Akira smiled, reminiscing about that moment when Donald showed her some kindness by teaching her magic. "I believe you."
With a heavy sigh, Akira crossed her arms on the desk she was sitting at and buried her head. Sora had been feeling drowsy and decided to nap in the hotel room where they met Leon and Yuffie while they waited for Donald and Goofy to finish packing, while Akira decided to rest in the red room next door.
On their short walk to the hotel, Sora had marvelled at how she was able to use magic in their last battle. She could hardly believe it herself; she and Sora spent their entire lives thinking magic was restricted to their favourite fantasy novels and television shows. Donald had explained to them that magic power sleeps within everyone, but it still remained a baffling concept. How quickly life can change…
"When we get to the next world, I'm going to ask Donald to teach me magic too!" he had exclaimed.
She smiled as she remembered his final statement before nodding off to sleep. She could question the dangers of everything they face, and Sora would still dive in headfirst, no questions asked.
"Maybe I need to stop being so nervous all the time…" she muttered to herself. Easier said than done, though...
"Hmm? Where did I end up now?"
And maybe today was not the day to stop being suspicious of everything.
Akira's eyes widened with fear at the sound of the voice. It was completely unfamiliar, and sounded very close… Suddenly, a small creature-like thing had hopped off her head and landed onto the table, prompting her to screech with fear.
"A bug!"
She violently pushed her chair back, hitting the bed in the process. She had half a mind to summon her staff until she noticed how tiny the culprit was. She could step on it if she pleased.
"Now, I wouldn't say I'm a bug! I'm a cricket! Jiminy Cricket, to be exact."
Wonderful. Another talking animal. Nothing surprised her anymore.
"Your name is Jiminy," she repeated, relaxing ever so slightly.
The cricket nodded with a smile. "That's right! I'm the royal chronicler. I'll be keeping track of your adventures in my journal! Though I must say, this is quite an embarrassing way to meet, isn't it?"
Akira swallowed hard and nodded. He didn't seem dangerous at all, though he did give her quite a fright. "So, you came from the same place as Donald and Goofy."
"Not quite," Jiminy explained, "My world was swallowed by darkness, but I was somehow able to escape, and found myself on Donald and Goofy's world."
Her eyes fell as he recounted his story. It sounded a lot like hers… "Well then," she said as she straightened her chair and pulled herself back to the desk, "Looks like we have something in common."
The cricket smiled at her. He was quite the dapper dresser, donning a button-up shirt and a little top hat. He looked fancy enough to be attending a royal ball. "I've been meaning to introduce myself, but I haven't had the chance yet. You must be Akira," he said in a friendly manner, stretching out his hand invitingly.
She chuckled. "I am. Nice to meet you Jiminy."
Her index finger was as much as he could take in his small hand, but they made their handshake work.
"Have you met Sora yet?" she asked.
"Well, no," Jiminy said while scratching his chin, "But I had been meaning to introduce myself very soon. I bet I'll be filling these pages with tales of his deeds, so a proper introduction is definitely in order!"
Akira chuckled as she stretched out her hand before him, inviting him to climb on. "Well, why don't we go and take care of that now? It's about time he woke up anyways."
Jiminy accepted her offer and hopped onto the palm of her hand. "Well, golly, that'd be great! Are you sure it's okay to wake him up, though?"
She laughed heartily. "Trust me, I've done this many times before. I can't guarantee he'll be happy about it, though."
She or Kairi were always the ones tasked with waking him up from his afternoon naps on the beach of their old home, although the burden mostly fell on Kairi's shoulders due to Akira's inability to resist the warm and inviting pleasure of napping in the afternoon as well.
"Say, Jiminy," she began while she used her shoulder to open the connecting door between the two rooms, "Why exactly were you on my head?"
"I don't remember," he said half-heartedly, "I usually travel in Goofy's hat, or pocket, since his height makes it easier to see everything, but I think I may have fallen off during your fight with that awful Heartless. I hit my head pretty hard, and lost consciousness. Luckily, I ended up on your head, otherwise I would be in a much worse situa – huh?"
During his monologue, Akira had approached the sleeping boy and had put her other free hand on his shoulder to wake him, but she immediately froze as soon as her hand touched him.
"Akira, are you okay?" he asked nervously, jumping onto the bed to get a better look at her.
She seemed to be breathing but all the light had left her eyes. In an instant, she had fallen onto the floor, unresponsive. Her eyes remained open, her gaze empty and lifeless.
"Oh dear, this is awful!" Jiminy panicked, "I have to find help!" He scurried towards the hotel's exit as fast as his little legs would carry him, calling for Donald and Goofy as he left the two unconscious teens behind.
Well, well, isn't this unexpected... How did you manage that on your own, Akira?
Akira awoke disoriented and confused when she came to. The last thing she remembered was attempting to awaken her sleeping friend, but after that her mind drew a blank. She rubbed her forehead as she examined her surroundings, finding herself even more confused than she initially imagined.
"How… did I end up here?"
It was as if she had been thrust back in time. She found herself back on her shattered island during the fateful night that destroyed everything she ever knew. And towering above her, as tall and as terrifying as ever, was the wicked being that attacked Sora and herself, its eyes a menacing yellow.
She shuddered as she recalled the anguish she felt when she first laid eyes on it, the hollow heart-shape carved from its chest still haunting her nightmares. Yet, it oddly seemed disinterested in her. The massive being she had now learned was a Heartless was eager to devour another prey, a fearful and familiar teenage boy completely immobilized with fear.
"Sora!" she called, scrambling to her feet as she rushed towards him. But every step she took felt heavier and heavier, as if she was sinking into the sand. She looked down and gasped in horror. Every step she took sunk her further into a pool of darkness. There was no step to balance herself on, no object to grab onto and pull herself out; she had no choice but to sink further and further, until she was completely consumed.
"No!" she screamed, as her vision grew blurred, watching as the massive Heartless descended onto Sora to devour him, completely immobilized and unable to help, "It can't end this way… Not again."
"Akira, please wake up!" Sora cried, shaking her shoulders harder than he had before. He tried everything Kairi had every tried on him to wake him up from his deepest slumbers, but nothing seemed to work. She remained motionless on the Traverse Town hotel floor, and he grew more desperate with each passing minute.
Finally, after many attempts on his part, she stirred, the light returning to her eyes. "What happened?" she asked in a daze.
"You're alive!" he cheered, breathing a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness!"
She sat up straight, holding her head up with one hand. She felt like she had been slugged. "Sora... where are we?"
"We're... in the Traverse Town hotel, remember?" he answered apprehensively. She still looked dazed and confused, which did nothing to quell his anxiety.
She rubbed her head. "That was so weird. For a minute, I felt like I had gone back in time; back to when our islands were destroyed."
"No way," Sora said softly, "I had a nightmare about the same thing. That huge Heartless swallowed me up, and I woke with a start. That's when I found you lying on the floor."
Akira looked down at her hands. "How did we dream about… the exact same thing?"
Sora's eyes fell. "I honestly don't know…"
The door to the hotel room swung open with a loud bang as it hit the wall. Donald had used way too much force in his hurry to arrive.
"Are you guys okay?" Goofy asked in a worried tone as he approached the teens.
Akira nodded. "We're fine now."
"See? Nothing to worry about!" Donald assured as he waved his hand.
"Gosh, Donald, you seemed pretty worried while you rushed over!" Goofy replied.
Donald let out a furious quack before quickly changing the subject, his cheeks flushing crimson. "We have all our supplies, we can go now!"
"Really?" Sora asked excitedly, "We can go visit other worlds now?"
Donald nodded. "Follow me!"
He spun around and marched out the door with Goofy in tow as Jiminy held onto Goofy's hat, relieved that both teens seemed to be awake and full of life. Sora stretched and yawned as he skipped towards them and passed through the doorway, leaving Akira to catch up and shut the door behind them.
Try not to dive so deep next time without warning, hm?
Akira felt the blood drain from her face as she released the doorknob from her grip. You don't just say something cryptic like that... unless you know what happened, or worse yet, had something to do with it. She kept her eyes fixated on the door as she felt her staff materialize in her hand.
"What are you talking about?" she hissed.
But her staff remained silent.
The teens were in awe at the sight of the ship they'd be travelling in. The exterior itself seemed fairly small, but the interior was a sight to behold. Goofy had explained that the ship was built with a material called 'gummi blocks', which gave the exterior its odd but unique look. The interior consisted only of the cockpit, which had four large chairs with cushioned sheets as well as a dashboard filled with an array of knobs and buttons used for piloting. Despite it being one small sitting area, it was fairly tall and roomy.
Akira seated herself near the window, taking one last glance at Traverse Town. To think, she was actually going to fly through space on a real-life space ship! The thought alone filled her with excitement, along with a generous dose of uneasiness.
"Ooh, can I drive?" Sora asked as he took a seat right up front. Akira's eyes widened at his statement. A very, very generous dose of uneasiness...
"No! Not until you learn how to actually fly it!" Donald quacked angrily.
Sora sighed and slumped in his seat, giving up completely.
"Fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight!" Goofy instructed as Donald fiddled with the buttons and switches, preparing for liftoff.
"Ready?" he quacked, "Blast off!"
The Gummi ship effortlessly rose off the ground and shot into the starry night sky, leaving nothing but a trail of smoke from the exhaust in its wake. Their hearts were filled with wonder and amazement as they hurtled past the stars, the asteroids, the curious-looking Heartless ships, and the clouds of colourful stardust; their adventure together had only just begun, and they could hardly imagine what adventures awaited them in the worlds beyond...