Me: I LIIIIVE!
KH Cast: (proceed to beat Wish senseless)
Me: Ouch! I'm sorry! Ow... I didn't mean to make the multi-chapter OP fic!
Digitaldreamer: But it was a good thing…
Readers: (sharpening knives)
Me: (cries and hides behind Digital) It's not my fault! I just got so much encouragement for writing One Piece, I had to write!
Digitaldreamer: But it was a good fic…it's good to get into other fandoms and expand your horizons!
All:...
Me: To say I'm sorry, I won't write another One Piece one-shot or story until another five chapters of this are done!
Digitaldreamer: (sulks)
All: WOOHOO!
Me: (happy dances) read and review!
Destiny Islands
It was complete and utter chaos. Had it not been for the seriousness of the situation, Sora would have laughed.
Oh wait..
...never mind, he was still laughing.
Laughter exploded from Sora's throat, arms clutching his stomach as he took in the scene before him. Nary, who had apparently snuck along in one of the boats, had attached herself to the head of the pilot and was refusing to let go. Sora almost felt sorry for the man, but knowing where the Spectra Ship would be taking him his pity was limited.
Everything began when everyone saw the Spectra flying down. Of course, how was the pilot supposed to know, as he stepped from the air craft, that Wakka and Tidus were hiding behind the trunks of palm trees ready to bombard the man with the heavy brown fruit? How was the pilot to know Fire, Crys and Selphie were awaiting his arrival with thing cords of rope? No one could have guessed that...
...but the pilot sure wished he had.
"Your majesty, call them off of me!" the pilot sputtered, swinging his body in attempt to throw the girl off of him. He couldn't use his arms since the girls had instantly bound him in the rope the moment he set foot on sand. Wakka and Tidus stopped throwing coconuts once Nary latched herself upon the man, afraid they might hit her. Instead, they were now inspecting the Spectra Ship closely in fascination.
"I'm sorry, I don't know who you're talking about," Sora chuckled.
"Aw, Sora, give the poor guy a break," Kairi giggled, also amused.
Sora raised an eyebrow. "And why would I do that? The man just insulted me."
Riku sighed, leaning back on the trunk of a palm tree. "Nothing like mass chaos to liven things up a bit, ne?"
Sora nodded, grinning. It didn't feel quite like home without a daily bit of excitement and this certainly fit the bill. It mustn't have been very fun for the pilot who was trying to wrench Nary off his back, but the future king couldn't have cared less. Whatever delayed the inevitable worked fine with him.
"Huh?" Sora murmured, hearing a crackling noise coming from inside the Spectra Ship.
"What is it?" Riku asked.
Sora wasn't listening. He walked up to the entrance of the giant ship and climbed the ramp. It felt cool inside, lights blinking across his skin. The leather pilot seat was abandoned, seat belt lying on the cushion. Sora moved it and sat down, staring at the beeping monitor in front of it.
Haven taken lessons on how to actually pilot these things, Sora flipped the switch by the intercom. What he heard was strange, sounding neither human nor animal. Or any language, for that matter. It was a high pitched whining, like something dying. Eyebrows furrowed, Sora twiddled the knob beside it, trying to tune the voice into something understandable.
He heard footsteps behind him and a shadow fell over the screen. Looking to his left, he saw Riku sit down on the copilot's seat, staring just as intently at the box as Sora did.
Shrugging to his best friend, Sora pulled out a slide underneath the intercom. Punching in a few keys and a code, a tracker came up on the screen over head.
"What are you doing?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend's antics.
"Tracing the call," Sora said plainly.
A small radar stretched from the Spectra's current position. It bounced along what looked to be a tunnel, leading to the Deep Jungle. From there, the vibrations followed a narrow path to Wonderland. From Wonderland to Halloween Town.
"What the hell is going on?" Riku murmured.
"Dunno," Sora shrugged. "I guess this is the flight pattern of the Spectra. I've never used this sonar before."
"But it's going in circles," Riku pointed out. And he was right. The bouncing waves were caught spiraling around Hollow Bastion, not settling anywhere. Sora turned a dial, the scene growing twice its size. There were several new worlds now laid out on the map. Pride Rock, a giant Circus Tent (Dumbo), woods (Bambi), and a cottage (Snow White). But the waves bounced around all these worlds, as if searching for something. Finally, it stopped near an area worlds away from Hollow Bastion. Except there was no world there.
"What the..." Sora murmured. He blew up the image as to where the now red dot was. Nothing there.
"I guess it's nothing," Riku said.
"Then what's this message from?" Sora retorted, motioning towards the speakers that was still playing that eerie sound. It was now getting very annoying.
"Could just be interference," said Riku.
"From the middle of nowhere? No, I don't think so."
Riku frowned. "It's nothing to get upset about, Sora. I'm sure it's nothing."
To Riku it was nothing. But Sora was different. It was a wild shot in the dark, but maybe he got attached to the worlds when he found out he'd soon be in charge of them.
"I'm going to check it out," Sora concluded, standing up.
Riku raised an eyebrow. "What's with you all of a sudden? Look, it's just some strange noise. Could be Monstro's sister or something."
"No, that would show up on radar," Sora retorted, pointing to the blue moving shape that was Monstro, who was currently floating around a Pirate Ship.
Riku sighed in defeat, knowing nothing could stop Sora now. "Fine. But how do you plan on getting there? Mickey will flip out at you if you don't go back."
"Who said I wasn't coming back?" Sora said, grinning his trademark grin. "I'll go check it out and be back before he notices."
"I just have a bad feeling about this," Riku muttered.
Sora frowned. "So do I, Riku. And that's why I'm going to go see what's there."
As the two left the ship, the screen flipped up into the roof of the ship. The only sounds now were Riku and Sora's footsteps as they exited the ship and the halt of the eerie noise, which had been replaced by a cold chuckle.
...yeah...
"You want me to WHAT?"
Sora had finally convinced Nary to let go of the poor pilot who was about to loose his mind. He may have caused actually physical damage to his little sister. Now they were all standing in a crowd by the shoreline with the exception of Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka who were busy exploring the ship.
"You heard me," Sora said, crossing his arms. "I want to borrow the Spectra Ship for a while."
The pilot's (I shall now call him Hubert because I'm tired of saying 'the pilot' all the time) eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Is this just some ploy to get out of returning to Disney Castle?"
Sora put on his best innocent face. "Who, me?"
Hubert glowered at him.
Sora signed, turning serious. "Look, I just want to check something out," he said, running a gloved hand through his hair.
"No can do," Hubert said. "My orders were to bring you back whether you like it or not."
Sora frowned. "Okay, here's a new order. I want you to stay here until I get back. I won't be gone long."
"But..."
"I said it was an order," Sora reminded him. "I'll keep in touch at all times, okay?"
Hubert was still a bit uneasy. "King Mickey won't like this."
Sora shrugged. "Since when did I listen?"
Hubert spared the young adult once last glare before giving in. "Okay, fine. You have the ship for three hours. Three hours. Got that?"
"Got it!" Sora said cheerfully. Of course, he had no intention of hurrying his mission. But it gave the pilot some peace of mind so he didn't feel all that guilty.
Mumbling something about not getting paid enough for this, Hubert dug his hands inside of his pocket. A moment later he pulled out what appeared to be a metal ring with at least a dozen flat cards hooked onto it.
"Those are some weird keys," Kairi said.
The pilot snorted. "We don't use keys anymore. No, each of these cards control a different section of the ship. One for the weaponry options, one to actually start the thing up, one for the refrigerator," (Riku and Sora high-fived each other), "one for the equipment room..."
The list went on until Sora yanked the cards from Hubert's hands, assuring him he'd figure them out eventually.
"Leavin' already, ya?" Wakka asked, walking out of the ship at last with his two companions.
"Nah, I'll be back in a bit," Sora grinned. "Keep an eye on this guy for me."
The pilot snorted, looking highly affronted. With his nose in the air, he strutted off.
Rolling his eyes, Sora continued: "I should be back by tonight. I just need to check something out."
"Whatever," Tidus shrugged. "But try explaining that to Nary."
Sora gulped. He had forgotten the challenge of separating himself from his little sister. She was young and wouldn't understand that he would be back.
"Speaking of Nary," Kairi said, "Where did she go?"
Sora blinked, looking around. No Nary. "Hm," he said, scratching his head. "Guess she went home."
"With who?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I saw Yuffie hear earlier!" Selphie quipped. "She probably 'kidnapped' Nary for a while."
Sora winced at the hidden barb, but chuckled anyway. "Yeah, probably. Just make sure she gets home before my mom flips out."
"We will!" Kairi chirped. Smiling gently, she said, "Don't do anything stupid up there. And come back soon!"
"I will," Sora assured her, grinning. "What could go wrong?"
Riku wasn't convinced of this.
"I can come with you," Riku offered.
Sora frowned. "I don't need any help," he pouted. "I can do it myself. I'm a big boy, Riku."
Riku snorted, ruffling his younger friend's hair. "Uh huh, sure you are."
"Perhaps you two would like to get married?" the pilot snapped. He had been listening into their conversation from the docks. "The sooner Sora gets up there, the sooner he comes back, and the less risk I have of being fired."
Sora wished he could use the powers of his place as future king.
But then he'd be a hypocrite.
He didn't want that now, did he?
"Then I guess I'm leaving," Sora grinned.
And as he and his friends exchanged last minute farewells, a certain three-year-old was watching, huddled behind the Spectra Ship. She was only a toddler and, being related to Sora, no one expected her to be that bright.
Oh how wrong they were.
Then I guess I'm leaving. Even Nary could understand that, and she didn't like it. She didn't want her big brother to go, he had just gotten here! Nary pouted, fully prepared to run over there and cry until Sora said he'd stay with her. She was actually standing up to start running when she heard an odd whooshing sound.
"Huh?" she cooed, looking up. A ramp was uncurling from the giant ship, lowering to the ground with a faint hissing noise.
Hands clutching the side of the ramp, she peeked cautiously inside. Small, colorful lights winked at her, different devices making odd clicking noises. They sounded funny! Nary giggled.
Looking over her shoulder she noticed everyone was too busy talking to notice her. Grinning, she hefted herself up the side and climbed the slanted surface.
Skipping inside cheerfully, her mouth made a circular shape in awe. It was so big! And it was nice and cool inside, it couldn't be that bad! Looking out the window on the side, she saw her big brother making his way towards the ship. She giggled. She'd go with him! He'd be so happy that she was coming with when she jumped out! Making her decision, Nary ran off to the back of the ship. Tugging on the handle of a door that was obviously a closet, she ducked inside and shut the door just as Sora came on board.
Sora swung the key cards casually in his right hand, the other laying in his pocket. He blinked in surprise to see the ramp already open. Had he left it like that. Shrugging, he clambered inside, brushing the suspicion away.
The door hissed shut and Sora made his way to the pilot seat, sitting down and strapping himself in. He took a set of headphones from the hook atop his head and slipped them over his ears. The device crackled to life and Sora expected to hear Hubert's voice come through the speakers. Quite the opposite happened, in fact.
"Sora, what are you doing?"
It was King Mickey.
Sora laughed nervously, grinning sheepishly and scratching the back of his head as a monitor slid down into his view, transmitting live footage of Mickey Mouse. He didn't look happy.
"Well?" Mickey asked. "Where's Hubert?"
"Umm... outside?" Sora tried.
"Wrong answer, Sora," King Mickey sighed, rubbing the side of his head. Sora felt a tad bit guilty for worrying his mentor, but now wasn't the time.
"I'm just going to check something out," Sora promised. "I'll be back in a couple of hours and then I'll come back, I promise."
King Mickey crossed his arms. "And what are you checking out, exactly?"
"I got a strange transmission from somewhere behind Hollow Bastion," Sora said. "I thought it'd be a good idea to check things out.
"Ever think it might be Monstro's sister?" King Mickey tried. Seeing Sora's glare, Mickey sighed. "What makes you want to go after this so badly? It was probably just some sort of interference.
:I don't know," Sora admitted. "But I just have a feeling that something's out there."
King Mickey didn't say anything for a few moments. After the long silence, he finally said, "All right, Sora. I trust you. Just make sure you get back here safely, okay?"
"You sound like the others," Sora teased. "Don't worry, Mick, nothing can go wrong. I just want to see what's going on."
Mickey grinned. "I'll see ya here tonight, then."
"Bye," Sora said, hitting a red button at the corner of the screen, effectively wiping Mickey's image from it and sending the screen folding back up to it's original dormant position.
Sora grinned brightly at all of the controls laid out before him. SO many buttons. So little time.
Sliding the card into the slot below the steering wheel, Sora hit the throttle switch. The beast of a ship roared into life and he felt his seat shake slightly. The engine hummed into life and the over head light switched on.
"Okay, let's how long it takes this thing to go from 0 to 120," Sora chuckled. He yanked back the lever and slammed his foot on the pressure pad on the ground. Five seconds.
Done
Me: O to 120... he meant miles per hour. Took him five seconds, obviously. Well, hope you enjoyed this. We are getting into the plot and it only took, like, what? NINE chapters?
Sora: A real laugh riot (rolls eyes).
Me: I have good news for the readers though! My One Piece escapade has come to a close.
Digitaldreamer: Whaaa?
Cast: (looks up hopefully)
Me: (grins) Those eight OP writings took it all out of me. I went to read the newly posted One Piece chapters and found I didn't enjoy them as much as usual. So it's over for a while. My heart has returned to its Kingdom Hearts happy place.
Digitaldreamer: (bursts into tears)
Me: (pats Digital on back and hands tissues and Luffy plushie)
All: (CHEERS)
Me: By the way, FL has a theme song. It's perfect for when Sora came back to Destiny Islands. And I mean PERFECT. It has everything to do with this fic. If you wanna listen to it, give me your e-mail and I'll send it to you. If you don't wanna download, I can send the lyrics. But you MUST hear it! It RULES!
Sora: Thank you for the awesome song, Fire!
Me: Yes! Fire sent it to me cause she's just awesome like that. THANK YOU! Well, until Friday (when I'm updating again)! Please review.