Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode IX: Captive, and with the Bends Too.

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, and Skies of Arcadia Legends, by SEGA. There may also be an appearance by one character from Martian Successor Nadesico.

When Riku awoke, he paid little attention to the fact that he did so in a cell in the pirate's brig. That was because he was also in excruciating pain, in his head, in his joints, everywhere.

"Ohh!" the young man said. He had no idea of why he was in such pain, nor was he in any shape to think about it, since it had affected his mind as well as his body. All he had was a vague impression of having been attacked.

King Mickey on the other hand was in much better shape. He was still affected by the bends like most air breathing creatures would be after having been under such high atmospheric pressure. However due to his magical 'Toon' nature, it didn't incapacitate him. Thus he could still function well enough to be concerned about his friend.

Meanwhile on the bridge of the 'sub' two figures were speaking. One was a middle aged man wearing a large frock coat and a large frilled hat, who obviously had the misfortune of losing one hand and one leg, for in their place were a large metal hook and a wooden peg, respectively. He was pacing the deck right in front of the other, a short round man dressed in a blue striped shirt, ragged grey pants, and with a red bandana on his bald head. "What the eightch is taking that man so long?" the flamboyantly dressed man said as he nearly hooked the other man, who quickly scurried out of the way.

"Please calm down Captain" the short man exhorted him.

"Darn it Smee" the Captain said. "What is it with this Tenkawa swab anyway? He's late!"

At that moment there was a forceful puff of wind which ruffled the pirate Captain's gold trimmed scarlet coat and nearly blew his hat off, the Captain just managing to hold onto it with his good hand. "Captain Hook!" announced a young man's voice, which was pleasant but somehow devoid of emotion at the same time.

The two startled pirates wheeled around to face the voice's owner, who indeed seemed to be a young man in his late twenties. He was dressed in a large gray coat, and wore a red high tech visor with a flashing jeweled light on its top rim, right beside a noticeable Heartless emblem.

"With me Captain Hook?" he said. "There is much 'with me', but it does not concern you, or your task. You have not yet finished your task."

If Hook had had two good hands, he would have wrung them. "It's only a matter of time before we do sir."

"See that you do. Our Master eagerly awaits the Silver Moon Crystal."

Back in the brig, Mickey was shaking Riku's shoulder slightly and calling out to him in order to get his attention. "Riku, Riku, can you hear me friend."

"Uh barely, with all the roaring in my ears." the silver haired young man replied.

"Well the good news is that we're still alive."

"What, what news?" Riku replied, as the word 'news' was all he heard clearly.

"We're still alive!" Mickey said louder.

Riku didn't reply, since he had fallen unconscious again.

Far away, near a crescent shaped floating island off the northeastern coast of the Valuan continent, a small green ship emerged from a large hatch cut into the lower outside curve of the 'crescent'. Unlike the ship where Riku and Mickey were imprisoned, this one resembled nothing so much as a small fishing boat, which it in fact she had once been. However like that ship, and indeed most ships on the planet, she sailed the skies rather than the seas, and had distinctive features such as flapping propulsion fins which supplemented the lateen sails when higher speed was required, or there was not enough wind. Taking a closer look, there were also four cylindrical vertical lift vents, two on each side of the vessel, set at a forty-five degree angle to the vertical. Unlike most fishing boats, even on Arcadia, the Little Jack was armed, having two cannon ports on each side and a large 'harpoon cannon' mounted on her bow.

Standing on the bow right behind the harpoon cannon mount was a man in his early twenties, wearing a blue jacket which came down to his hips, tight form fitting blue pants, orange boots which came almost to his knees, and topped off with a wide brown leather belt, red bandana and distinctive glass eye-patch over his right eye, which was really a telescopic magnifying lens.

Captain Vyse stood there, contemplating the events of the last five years, from his leaving of his ancestral home on Pirate Isle with his friends Aika and Fina, through all their adventures as they fought the good fight against Galcian and Ramirez and the establishment of their own base at Crescent Isle, now rapidly falling away astern.

He remembered his old friend Drachma, whom the Little Jack had once belonged to. Soon it would be the first anniversary of the old fisherman-cum arcwhale hunter's death, and in fact Vyse, along with select members of his crew were sailing to pay their respects at his memorial.

A few moments later Vyse's attention was caught by the sound of footsteps on the deck behind him. He turned and saw a young woman wearing a tight yellow tunic over a pair of brown short shorts, her flaming red hair done up in a pair of ridiculously stiff Pippi-Longstockingesque pigtails which stuck almost straight out to either side of her head.

"Hey Vyse, what are you doing out here?" she said as she strode up to him.

"Oh hello Aika." he replied.

"Don't 'hello Aika' me! I know when you're thinking about something, and you're thinking about something!"

"I was remembering about how you, me Fina and Captain Drachma were in the old days, but you broke my train of thought!"

"Should've figured that" Aika said pensively. "Since we all are. I guess things aren't like they used to be."

"You're right about that." Vyse replied. "Things are getting a little boring in our 'line of work."

Back in the sub's brig, Riku once again awakened, his headache and joint pain still present, although less severe. He found Mickey looking at him, a slight look of relief on the Mouse King's face.

"Thank goodness" Mickey said. "Are you feeling better?"

"A little" Riku replied.

Mickey turned away for a second, and when he turned back he had a small bowl of lumpy gray porridge in his hand. "Here, have some of this."

Although the boy didn't feel very hungry at the moment, Riku accepted the bowl and began picking at the contents, taking a few bites before putting it down again.

"Not very good, is it?" the Mouse King commented shaking his head. "But what can you expect from pirates?"

"Not again" Riku said as he rubbed his temples. "Why must it always be pirates? I hate pirates."

"Well, that's what we have." Mickey replied. "One of them looked in on us while you were sleeping."

"Well what did they want?"

"How should I know? They didn't tell me."

Riku slowly rose, just barely able to stand unsteadily on his feet, the effort making his joints complain. "What did they do to us?" he asked.

"I don't know that either. It seemed to me that they did nothing to you, you just suddenly slowed down and collapsed."

"Oh!" the young man replied.

Before they could discuss their problems further, a harsh clank came from the cell door and one of the pirates stuck his head inside. Seeing that Riku was conscious he said "Oh you're awake now? Well the Cap'n wants to see ya!"

The pirate opened the door fully and entered, followed by two more pirates carrying belaying pins and having ropes slung over their shoulders, obviously to be used to tie poor Mickey and Riku up for their trip to see the ship's C.O. Neither of them put up much resistance, as Riku had not yet fully recovered and Mickey wanted to see who was behind this particular group of pirates.

The Mouse King had not long to wait, since before long the pirates had led them though a series of metallic corridors and then forced them to climb a ladder, not easy since their hands were tied. They arrived in a long oval room, the walls of which were lined with consoles, gauges, valve wheels, levers and buttons. Riku didn't take much time to take in the layout of the control room however, as his attention was caught by the hook-handed pirate in the crimson coat in front of them, the Captain.

"You!" both the young man and the Captain shouted simultaneously as Riku tried to struggle against his bonds and the pirates holding onto him. Since the ropes were tied tightly and Riku had not yet fully recovered, this was futile, and Captain Hook strode up to the boy, holding his hook close to the young man's face.

"Now boy, what were you doing down in the old city, pray tell? Looking for treasure perhaps?"

"What treasure?" Riku asked angrily. "What would I know about any treasure, you pirate?"

"Don't play stupid with me boy! I'm talking about jewels, big ones!"

"I don't know, didn't see any! All the treasure chests we found were empty! If we found anything, we certainly wouldn't give it up to the likes of you!"

"That's right!" Mickey added. "Not even the time of day, you pirate!"

Captain hook, visibly upset, moved his hook even closer to Riku's face. "Don't play dumb boy! Why else would you be in that old ruin, eh?

Riku spat in Hook's face barely missing the pirate's good eye. Hook growled in irritation, then said "Don't be so cheeky boy! I have ways of getting what I want, I just have to think of one!" as he drew the point of his hook against the young man's cheek, leaving a freshly bleeding scratch.

"Go ahead and do it, if you want!" Riku told him. "Torture me, kill me, I don't care! I'm telling you nothing! I swear I will pay you back for everything, even if I must come back from the dead to do so!"

"What can a ghost do to me eh? Nothing I wager!" Hook drew back, pacing with a step-clunk back and forth two times in a semicircle around Riku. Finishing with that, he moved toward Mickey, placing his hook near the Mouse's ear. "Maybe if the Man won't tell me, the Mouse will?"

"Like I said before, I wouldn't even give you the time of day!"

"I've got clocks to tell me the time, mouse! Now tell me what you two were looking for in that old city!"

Mickey said nothing.

"Bah!" Captain Hook exclaimed. "Put those two back in their cell while I think of a suitable torture!"

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: The Lion doesn't sleep tonight.

Author's note: I know that this update is late, and I know that parts of this are probably lame. It's just that sometimes other things call one away.

Cordially yours: Talanane.