Secrets of Memories Chapter 36: Water is the Key
" Atlantica?" Riku's senses told him what others could see with their eyes; Atlantica was a realm of water. " So we're headed to Atlantica first? How are we going to survive?"
" What do you mean?" Tarzan was confused. Sally had just explained that King Triton's trident could probably keep the Heartless away; what did Riku mean by surviving?
" It's surrounded by water, Tarzan," Riku explained. " You know what that means?"
" We float," Pooh said. " And the only way to move is to drop a stone on you."
" Uh, no Pooh, I don't think so," Riku was perplexed by Pooh's response. " We drown."
" We can just swim, right?" Tarzan offered an alternative, not understanding Riku at all.
" I can't swim!" Jack exclaimed. " Sure I can pop up from wells if I wanted to but that's not the same as swimming!"
" We can't swim in Atlantica!" Riku shouted. " We drown! We can't hold our breaths for days, can we? This world is enveloped in water and there's no air for us to breathe!"
" We can do what Donald did to Sora, Goofy, and himself," Sally proposed. " Change us so that we're suitable for water."
" Sally, you know I'm not too fond of water," Jack began to protest.
" I installed a portal here, Jack," Sally gestured to the back of the gummi ship. " You're needed by the people of Halloweentown; take it to Traverse Town and leave this sort of business to us."
" What did Donald do?" Riku demanded, conjuring the image of the court wizard in his mind.
" He changed Sora, Goofy, and himself to suit the watery environment," Sally explained patiently. " Turned them into half-aquatic animal so that they can survive underwater."
" How are we going to turn into half-aquatic animals?" Tarzan asked slowly, being extra slow around the word ' aquatic'.
" Magic," Sally said with a smile. " I'm quite well versed in this type of magic; a good acquaintance of mine taught me."
" Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no," Riku backed up. " You are not turning me into a monster!"
" No choice, Riku," Sally said calmly. " Pooh can man the gummi ship, keep it safe and keep other Heartless ships away from Atlantica. We can go down there and Atlantica from the same portal Jack can use to go to Traverse Town."
" Sally, I don't want you to risk yourself," Jack said severely. " You're very important to our cause."
" Yet he needs the guidance more than you," Sally did not elaborate on who 'he' was but Riku had a very good idea who it was. " Take the portal. Think the name 'Traverse Town' and it will take you to Cid's place. You'll be meeting Alice, Aladdin, Jasmine, and hopefully Dr. Finkelstein there-"
" Oh, Alice made it safely to Traverse Town?" Jack sounded a bit surprised. " Thank goodness she's safe. What about the other princesses?"
" Snow White and Cinderella made it," Sally thought for a minute. " Aurora definitely made it; since Maleficent is up and at it, she's the first refugee. The only ones in more danger than us are the princesses Belle and Kairi."
" How is Kairi in danger?" Riku asked, alarmed. " And what of Belle?"
" Belle hasn't made it to Traverse Town, I'm afraid," Sally explained. " She's still trying to turn Beast's heart. Kairi is down at In-Between and she's got a lot ahead of her. Merlin and Selphie are helping her, I expect but it will be her who will close its door."
" Close?" Riku was puzzled. " Why close a door?"
" Close one door and you open another," Sally smiled. " It's that simple. But she will have to pay attention to her task, as so do you. Jack, go to the portal while we take care of our business up here."
Jack nodded resignedly, broken by female willpower, and strode to the back of the gummi ship, waving to them. Riku, Tarzan, and Pooh waved back then turned to Sally, who told Pooh, " Man the gummi ship well but don't bring it close to Atlantica. The gravitational pull can yank this technological ship into the waters and that will certainly be disastrous. Stay in one spot, preferably, while we go down and meet up with King Triton and Ariel."
" What creature am I going to be?" Riku asked nervously as she led them towards the back. Jack, they could tell, had found the portal and used it; now Sally was leading them towards a faintly glowing circle on the floor.
" It'll depend on your nature, perhaps," Sally replied. " But I must warn you; the magic of the universe as been unstable since the Heartless and the Nobodies reappeared and appeared. If the magic doesn't work, well, it would work but to what level? Certainly it will allow you to breathe underwater but if worst comes to worst, you might actually take up the form of the creature."
" The actual form?" Riku could imagine himself swimming on the shores of Destiny Island as a sardine – no, can't think about Destiny Island, not now!
" Doesn't harm anyone or anything," Sally said with a shrug as she stepped onto the glowing circle. " But it will hurt the Heartless."
Tarzan joined her in the circle. Riku, hesitant about swimming around as a sardine, stepped in as well.
" Good luck," Pooh waved to them. He didn't mind not being with them down at Atlantica. Now he could explore the whole of the gummi ship with Riku breathing down his short little neck the whole time.
Then again, Pooh didn't even have a neck.
" Don't dismantle the gummi ship, Pooh, you hear me?" Riku instructed before all three of them vanished.
He opened his eyes slowly, unsure of what had happened, of what had happened to him. He was rather too nervous to find out for himself. But sooner or later, he would have to know what had happened to himself.
" Is this – is this Atlantica?" Riku wondered as he blinked, his vision coming into focus – coming into focus?!
" Wha!" he shouted, jumping up. " I can see, I can see, I can –"
He was floating, he wasn't falling back down to the ground. He was in water. And he was breathing.
" It worked," Riku realized. " So I can breathe underwater, to the very least! And my eyes, I can see again!"
Giddiness bubbled up in him; finally, after a year and weeks of wandering around in darkness, barely able to make out shapes, using his mind to see and seek out, he could finally truly see colors again with his own eyes. His mind had seen for him enough, now he could let his mind rest and let his eyes work again
" I can't believe I can see!" he shouted and went around in circles, not noticing how he was doing it. " I can see, I can see, I can see! I can–"
He realized he was going around in circles, hovering above strange rock formations, waving seaweed, and huge clamshells. Not only did he realize that, he saw a black tail swimming around with him. A tail shaped like a crescent moon, jet black. It looked like the tail of a shark Tidus once spotted back at Destiny Island, jet black and like a crescent moon.
" A shark?" Riku wondered. " I'm part shark?"
He looked at his hands and stared in disbelief. No, they were not hands; he definitely remembered how his hands looked like. These were –
" I'm a shark!" Riku wailed.
" A shark! A talking shark!" Tarzan's voice shouted clearly in the water. " Sally, I think we found him!"
" Oh dear," Sally's voice agreed, and with astonishment. " So the spell affected him the way I warned us, didn't it?"
Riku turned towards the voices, looking stunned as Sally, whose head was attached to the body of what was later known as a huge sunfish, and Tarzan, who was normal from the head to the waist and then was a swordfish waist down, approached. He panicked.
" What do you mean?" Riku demanded. " I'm not – I'm not an actual shark, am I?"
" Aaaahhh! A shark! Ariel, it's a shark!" another voice began to shout and scream. " And monsters! Ariel, we're under attack! Aaaahhh!"
" Flounder, calm down!" a willful woman's voice reprimanded. " I don't think those are monsters. And I definitely know sharks don't talk like us."
" I really am a shark," Riku was depressed.
" Ariel, how very nice to meet you, especially under the present circumstances," Sally nodded to whoever it was behind Riku. " And your daughter?"
" She's back at the castle above," Arial said calmly. " After that escapade several months ago, she's been…a bit more obedient, I suppose."
Sally suppressed a laugh. " Takes after you, I might have to say. Are you sure she won't be following us this time?"
" Eric's got a good eye on her," Ariel promised. " Now, who are your friends?"
" This right here," Sally gestured to Tarzan, " is from Deep Jungle, Tarzan. You know of Deep Jungle's fate."
Ariel nodded, her face suddenly troubled.
" And this shark?" Ariel looked to the jet-black shark the yellow and blue fish named Flounder feared.
" Where do I begin?" Sally mused. " You know about how magic is changing, the laws of it, right? Well, this is just what happens. I consider it to be a side effect but I guess it looks pretty bad, considering what sort of sea creature he transformed into."
" Real bad," Ariel admitted. " But who is he, then?"
" I'm Riku," he spoke up before Sally could say anything. " You know, the one who became an ally of the Heartless, then got used by Ansem, then got stuck behind Kingdom Hearts with King Mickey, then got out of Kingdom Hearts blind, and is here right now as some stupid black shark."
He said it all very fast and very angrily. He immediately regretted his tone of voice, though. Everyone who heard it looked very hurt.
" I – I'm sorry," Riku apologized, embarrassed. " I didn't want – well, it's a long story but to make it short, I didn't' want people to misunderstand who I am."
He was referring, to Tarzan that is, the moment back at Coliseum when Meg misunderstood Riku's purpose.
" No harm done," Ariel accepted his apology. " Considering your situation, I understand quite clearly why you behaved that way. So, you're Riku. I think Father was expecting you."
" Excuse me?" Riku was confused.
" King Triton, Riku," Sally explained. " Ariel's father is King Triton."
" Oh…" Riku trailed off. In his mind, he finished it off with a, …no…
He just spoke in an insolent manner to the princess of Atlantica! How embarrassing!
" Come, this way," Ariel began to swim away, descending with the dipping sea floor and gesturing to a tunnel. " This is the way to the palace. It's urgent that you hurry. This world may be protected against the Heartless but Heartless still resides here. And he seems to have more urgent matters to discuss with you. Involving Neverland, Hollow Bastion, and Sora."
She spoke the name of the Keyblade Master slowly and Sally immediately understood. Six months ago, a catastrophe spread out through the universe, wiping out the minds of everyone it touched, Sally's included. It could not affect Sora, Donald, and Goofy like the others, though, for the light within each of them was too strong. But it did toggle with Sora's brain. Things got worse as he began searching for memories, for many of them, Sally included, could not remember him.
Of course, its all been fixed, thank goodness, Sally thought as they followed Ariel through a tunnel, down a current, up another room, and into Undersea Gorge. But the side-affects of the catastrophe still lingers. And Sora has not yet found all his memories.
She had no need to elaborate further on this; she already knew. Not that she knew exactly but she knew enough.
Smiling, she followed Ariel, Riku, and Tarzan towards a tunnel marked with golden tridents.
" Father, here is the one you told me to look out for," Ariel called out to the bearded king of Atlantica. " The black shark is Riku, Father."
King Triton, who was wondering what the black shark was doing, quickly understood and said, " Backfire, did it?"
Riku gave the old man a steely eye. " You have something to talk to us about? Ariel mentioned it to me."
" Oh, yes, of course, of course," King Triton said, fingering his beard in one hand and caressing his golden trident with the other hand. " Sebastian, clear out this room."
Sebastian, who happened to be a small red crab, nodded, bowed, and scuttled out of the Throne Room. King Triton then gave Ariel 'the eye'.
" Father, I'm a grown woman now," Ariel shot in exasperation. " Let me know the inner stuff about our world; I can be of help for this, too."
King Triton merely rolled his eyes. " Hopefully we don't' need anyone's help; the trident does more than enough to defend Atlantica against the Heartless. But stay if you will, I can't force you."
Riku wondered what this exchange was all about but he didn't ask; that wasn't important.
" Riku, you are laden with the task of finding Kingdom Hearts," King Triton cut to the facts. " The only way to close Kingdom Hearts without having any fools open it again -" he looked to Sally at this, who gave him a warning look "- is to seal it with the Oblivion Key. Seal the door of light that holds in the darkness with darkness and it will seal indefinitely. This will impend the Heartless movement in the universe."
" What are you talking about by fools?" Riku demanded testily.
" I think I've heard of this before…" Tarzan mused but no one heard him.
" Riku, the thing is, someone opened Kingdom Hearts," Sally explained. " That someone destroyed Hercules' world and is now guarding Sora. Long story."
" I haven't seen any green since we first got here," Selphie mused as they walked out of Waterfall Cavern.
" Now that I think about it, you're right," Kairi agreed. " In-Between's rather dead, it seems."
" Well that's what In-Between is kind of like: dead," Merlin replied. " Apparently, now we're going to break the rules of In-Between by bringing some green into this world.
" As soon as we find some water, that is," Jane added. " I haven't seen any water since we first got here."
" Then how did you last this long?" Selphie asked, surprised.
" We were only here for how many days, Terk?" Jane asked.
" Um…let me see," Terk thought carefully. " Oh right, maybe four, five, six, or nine days!"
" But it sounds like you've been here for a long time," Kairi said, confused.
" In-Between is a slow realm," Merlin decided to explain. " The time of In-Between is much slower than the time in the real universe. Weeks may pass above yet it may only be days down here. You can stay stuck here for years and when you – if you manage to return to real universe, you will find that thousands of years have gone by."
" Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Selphie asked.
" That is a question that I cannot answer," Merlin admitted as he looked up the looming edge of the waterfall. " Nobody have trouble rock climbing?"
" Uh…" Kairi turned red.
" Right, I think our attire isn't going to help us," Jane understood immediately.
" Ha, ha, ha you guys don't have pants on, ha, ha, ha!" Terk mocked them as she bounded her way up.
" Very funny, Terk," Selphie growled.
" Sigh…do you wish me to teleport us up there then?" Merlin asked resignedly.
" Will it hurt you?" Kairi demanded. " If it does, its okay, we'll just climb our way up. There's no need to expend your energy when you don't' need to."
" No, it really won't hurt me," Merlin reassured her. " And, truth be told, time is of importance, especially here in In-Between. There is no way of telling time between both realms so preferably the faster we move, the better."
Merlin then closed his eyes, then reached behind his back and pulled out a long wand. He waved it rather merrily, which was odd for such a forlorn place.
" Uh, Merlin?" Selphie wondered whether or not the wizard had suddenly lost his mind. " What are you –"
" Here we are," Merlin said cheerfully and the others realized that the scenery had changed.
Well, everyone except for Terk. They soon found her struggling up the side of the cliff, grumbling to herself all the while.
" Still laughing at us about not wearing pants?" Jane grinned teasingly.
" Aw be quiet!" Terk snapped back as she pulled herself up. " Now what?"
" The dry riverbed," Jane replied patiently.
" Also known as an arroyo," Merlin added helpfully.
" What's an arroyo?" Selphie asked curiously.
Silence.
" What?"
" You didn't' hear a word Jane said?"
" What did she say?"
" An arroyo is a dry riverbed, Selphie, like the one we're on."
" Oh, I knew that."
Kairi sometimes wondered if Selphie thought their journey to help Sora was in any way romantic. If the story of the paupu fruit was romantic in her eyes, surely everything else is romantic in her eyes, too. The only bad thing about her dreaming about this sort of thing was that Selphie lost track of everything and so she would not hear or see anything.
" It's so dry," Kairi commented as she kicked at the dried-up riverbed. The dust that managed to jump into the air fell back down heavily; there was absolutely no wind to toss them around.
" No water's been running through since we landed here," Jane said as they walked up the trail of dried mud and dust deep into the grayish trees of Deep Jungle. " The water source was suddenly cut off and the water stopped flowing. Something stopped up the water."
" Either that or there is no more water," Merlin said. " If there really is no more water, I might as well teleport us again."
" Why didn't you do it before?" Selphie demanded crossly.
" Not only are we trying to get the water flowing," Merlin began, " letting the water flow and bring life back to Deep Jungle may revive this world and take it back to the real universe. That's why I didn't teleport us up there."
Selphie, who was about to open her mouth to protest against him not using his magic to get them to the tree Jane and Terk told them about, shut it quick, understanding now.
" We can see Tarzan again!" Terk crowed. " Come on; let's see what's keeping the water up!"
She bounded forward through the riverbed and the others had to walk fast to keep up.
Presently, though, they reached a wide depression in the ground, which was apparently once the home of a pool of water. There was nothing more beyond it.
" That's strange," Terk said, standing up and surveying the scenario. " All that water, crashing and splashing down the waterfall, came from this pond? That's not right."
" Terk's right," Kairi agreed. " It seems all that water came from here."
" No inlet for water from anywhere," Jane mused. " This is strange."
" It could be that the inlet is sealed somewhere in this hard, dry depression," Merlin offered an explanation as he looked about the remains of the pool.
Or, whispered a foreign voice, the river could have been sealed for a good reason.
Kairi bit back a scream but Selphie held back nothing and belted out a shriek. Jane and Terk jumped but Merlin, with an amused look on his face, did nothing.
" Now what?" Merlin demanded. " What is wrong with the pool?"
He had a bored tone and expression, like something similar to this has happened before.
" Merlin?" Kairi ventured to ask, then froze as the looming figure of a great white knight, with a long blue strip of cloth wound around his neck, stepped forward from among the trees.
Finally, I find you here, here of all places, the creature was saying. Merlin, the water was blocked because this pool was drawing in Heartless. That was one of the main reasons why this world came here, to In-Between.
" Merlin, I don't' get it; what is going on?" Selphie whispered fearfully.
" What's wrong with the pool?" Jane asked.
" Yeah, what's wrong with the pool?" Terk agreed defensively. " You know, I've actually been here before."
Did you see anything in the waters? Something odd, like the future, perhaps? the knight questioned.
" Come to think of it," Terk thought. " Hm…I think I had! There were three figures facing off some figure on something invisible. Really weird. That was before Jane, Clayton, Sora, Donald, and Goofy came crashing here."
" You saw the battle in which Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeated Clayton, I believe," Merlin noted. " So, this pool shows the future, I suppose?"
Indeed Merlin, the knight-creature agreed. That is why I stopped the water. You know what will happen if the Heartless define what they can see in the water.
" What Sally knows," Merlin had a look of astonishment on his face. " Of course!"
" Someone just please tell us what in hell is going on here?!" Selphie shouted at them.
" Oh its quite simple, Selphie," Merlin replied pleasantly. " The pool of water here, the source of all sources of water here in Deep Jungle, was clogged up by my good friend Dream Heart here because if he doesn't, Heartless would've really destroyed this place. The pool draws them in because it radiates a signal and because they can figure out what would happen in the future and use that knowledge to their advantage. And in the process of stopping the water flow, Dream Heart has written the doom of Deep Jungle."
" Hey, you big bafoon!" Terk shook a fist at the great creature. " What are you trying to do, kill us?"
No, I'm trying to tell you how to undo the stopper, Dream Heart replied calmly. Being a member of a certain order Merlin is part of, I was to do everything in my power to keep the Heartless, and the Nobodies, away from the important elements. But now, the time has come for you to see what is in this certain pool of water. What the pool may show you, Kairi, may happen whenever, a minute from now, a thousand years later; you must be prepared to accept what you see however.
" Hey, why are you talking as though she's the one looking at this pool?" Terk demanded.
" What about me?" Selphie asked.
Kairi is a Princess of Heart; she must see what is in this pool of water, the Dream Heart explained calmly and persuasively. Merlin, this pool is – or was, connected to the pool in Sherwood Forest. I've told the Friar to be on the lookout for her connection to the pool for he may have news and information that she may need.
" And Princess Kida?" Merlin asked. The others were certainly getting confused.
We'll see, Dream Heart was saying. I hear there is trouble in her part of the universe. She may have her hands full.
Merlin nodded at this and then asked, " What did you do to the pool?"
Very simple, Dream Heart replied, waving what seemed to be a huge long lance for a left hand over the dried depression on the ground. I clogged the water source with the dirt material mixed with water. After the water seeped out into the waterfall, the wet dirt left behind hardened.
" It's called mud, Jumbo," Terk added.
" So you're telling me the water source is buried somewhere around here?" Selphie demanded.
" Is the water really still here?" Jane asked.
It is, Dream Heart confirmed. Release it and after Kairi sees what she needs to see and speaks to those who must speak with her, this world will return to the real universe.
" Well, that's definitely good," Jane said with a nod and a smile.
" Question is, where did you plug the water?" Kairi said, looking around.
Somewhere around here, Dream Heart responded.
" I am not digging unless I know where," Selphie shot back.
" It's not that hard," Terk said, walking around with a huge branch. " You just poke here, and there, and here and there…"
She walked around, literally stabbing the ground with the branch like it was a dagger, leaving behind deep holes.
Trouble was, she was going to have to make a lot of holes in order to find the spot where Dream Heart clogged up the water.
Merlin, I must go, Dream Heart suddenly spoke and Kairi noticed that it was starting to fade. Trouble has risen and I must answer to it. You know how dangerous the universe has become.
The Dream Heart faded into the gray and Kairi and Selphie were left alone with Merlin, Jane, and Terk bent on stabbing the good earth to death.
" It's gotta be here somewhere," Terk grumbled while she stabbed at the ground. " It's here or there or -"
" Or there," Jane stated, pointing at the far end of the pool, where the hard ground had begun to darken. " Terk, go back there and stab some more!"
Terk bounded back and began stabbing at the ground like mad. Splinters began to fly as Terk worked like frenzy to get more than just dark, moist ground.
" The water!" Merlin exclaimed while water seeped out. " Terk get out of there. Quickly, we do not want to dirty the water!"
" Are you saying we're dirty?" Selphie demanded while they scrambled up the side of the pool.
Kairi, who was carrying the jade box at the time, lost her hold on it and it tumbled down the side of the pool, stopping where the water was streaming out like a geyser.
" We can't lose the jade box!" Merlin shouted. " Kairi, grab it and get out! It's a very bad idea to stay in the pool; Terk you do know what I mean."
" Animals who go to the pool and go in? We never see them again," Terk said.
Kairi scrambled to the jade box and picked it up. But as soon as she picked up the box, the water sprayed out forcefully, as though it was angry to lose the touch of the container. The water level rose madly, creeping up above her ankles and towards her knees. She waded through the water, keeping the jade box as far away from the water.
" Is it just me or is the box glowing?" Jane wondered. She wasn't alone in this.
The box cast an aura of color around its surroundings and the gray of In-Between began to fade in Deep Jungle. The world seemed to be gaining a hint of a color not seen within for days.
" The water and the box working together to bring life back to Deep Jungle," Merlin noted. " Interesting."
Kairi, who now had water up to her waist, was no nearer to the side of the pool. " Something's holding me back!"
" Kairi!" Terk leaned over the side, holding out the huge branch. " Take this. We'll pull ya in."
Kairi grabbed at it with her right hand, keeping the jade box safe above water with the other hand. She could not get a grip on the branch, though, and the only way to do so was to use both hands. That would mean losing the jade box.
" I can't, not without letting go of the jade box," Kairi began to panic as the water level rose ever more furiously, reaching her neck.
" I think the water's trying to tell us something," Merlin mused.
" Merlin, get some sense into your head," Selphie snapped. " Water does not talk!"
" No, no, no, dear girl, I mean it quite differently," Merlin responded. " I think the connection between this world and the others in the real universe would happen only if Kairi was within it!"
As he said that, the water exploded, drenching everyone. It overflowed and slapped at their feet. Terk, shouting, lost her balance and fell in, only to be dragged away into the reviving river.