For anyone who's wondering why this took so long, I have a new overnight shift job. Since this is my first overnight job I have ever done, my mind has been thrown for a loop. So now that I have settled into my new job, I might be able to do more writing...I hope. Sorry for the wait, and enjoy this new chapter! By the way, pictures will be happening soon on my DeviantArt's page.

Prologue

(Philia speaking) (Philia speaking) Hi, my name is Philia. A while ago, I ended up getting sent away from my world, and now I have no memory of my past, other than my skills with a dagger and the fact that I was a treasure hunter. I am currently joining alongside my new friends Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, as we journey to different worlds, and using the power of Sora's Keyblade to stop the dark threat known as the Heartless, and sealing the Keyholes before the Heartless take the hearts of the worlds.

Last time, we were on our way to the next world, when suddenly, we ended up swallowed by this giant whale named Monstro. While I didn't like the feel of being swallowed whole by this monster, we ended up reuniting with Pinocchio and his father, Geppetto, inside the whale.

Pinocchio went further into the whale, and we ended up reuniting with none other than Riku. He behaved pretty poorly to Sora, and after what he tried to do to me in Traverse Town and what I saw him do in Agrabah, I couldn't let him get away. We all pursued him and Pinocchio, the result of which being Pinocchio getting captured by a Heartless! We all worked together to save him, but Riku wanted Pinocchio for another reason. He wanted to use him to save Kairi, which perplexed us.

As we went after Riku again to save Pinocchio, I ended up confessing what I was hiding from Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy about Riku. Although I did it not to cause any friction between Sora's friendship with Riku and I, he ended up taking it better than I thought. He wanted me to be more honest with him next time, and he knew something was wrong with Riku, so he had to stop him and save Pinocchio.

He was right about Riku. He was on the wrong path, and was helping Maleficent for an unknown purpose. We managed to save Pinocchio before his heart was taken, but as a Heartless was attacking us, Riku escaped the scene. Our battle not only caused my clothes to be damaged by stomach acid, but we ended up regurgitated out of the whale, as well, freeing all of us from it's inners.

We returned to Traverse Town, making sure Geppetto and Pinocchio were safe, while we recuperated and got ourselves ready for the next fight. Right now, Riku was our enemy, and Kairi was in danger. But we still had to find more of the Keyholes in other worlds, and save them from the Heartless. But first, we had a cup to win at the Olympus Coliseum!

(Cue 'Digimon Adventure Tri Opening 1 - Butterfly TV Size', music on Youtube)

My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly

(As the viewer zoom in on a grassy field, a red shape passes the viewer, revealing Sora in the distance. A light blue shape passes, revealing Philia, then a green one reveals Goofy, and a dark blue one reveals Donald.)

Oh My Love (guitar intro)

(The viewer zooms in and circles around to see the four of them standing there, looking off into the distance. The image becomes blurry as the title appears in front of them.)

I become a happy butterfly and flying the shimmering wind And I will go to see you right away

(Sora was asleep on the shore of the Destiny Islands, but was awoken by a voice behind him. He turned to see Kairi and Riku standing there by the raft, the latter looking somewhat annoyed by Sora's laziness while Kairi waved him over to help. Sora got to his feet and raced to his friends. The screen fades to white.)

Better you forget about unnecessary things, There's no time to joke anymore.

(The viewer zoom out of the white in Philia's eyes as she practices with her Sword Breaker, with Leon and Yuffie watching her. Her blade glowing yellow-green as she thrusted her blade forward in a Dagger Skill. She holds her position for a moment as Yuffie applauds her, then Philia lowers her weapon, looking up at the sky with a sad expression. The viewer looks into the sky, seeing the stars as they shined for a seconds, before quickly disappearing one by one.)

I wonder, wow wow wow wow wow, what will reach the sky

(The viewer zooms out as Maleficent comes into view, standing at the table with the shadowy silhouettes of her villainous allies, and Riku at her side.)

But, wow wow wow wow wow, don't even have a plan for tomorrow

(The scene changes to six of the seven Princesses of Heart, their eyes closed as if they were asleep. Kairi appears in the middle of it, her arms crossed in front of her as she opens her eyes and her body scatters into lights, replacing her position with Sora as he stood there beside Philia, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy on Donald's head as the viewer shifts the angle to behind them, seeing the hundreds of Heartless in front of them.)

Living in a world of nothing after the infinite dream, My love to you is growing weak

(The four begin to display to the viewers their combat skills against the Heartless one at a time, starting with Sora, then Philia, then Goofy, then finally Donald, who rains down lightning onto the Heartless before the heroes charge in to continue fighting.)

My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly. Oh My Love

(The viewer passes the Heartless to see Riku standing at the end, reaching out to Sora as to invite him to the darkness, with the shadowy image of Heartless Ansem mimicking his movements. Philia clears the path for Sora as he races forward, reaching out to his friend. The view shifts to Sora's view, his hand reaching out to Riku as he and the darkness fade away into the light.)

Guitar solo ending

(The screen shines an image of King Mickey holding the Keyblade as Donald and Goofy looking in from the sides. The view shifts to a dark image of Aincrad as it crumbles away, with Philia's face looking to the viewer. The view zooms out as Sora pats Philia's shoulder, causing her to look and smile at Sora as he grinned back. The view zooms back even further to show quartet and Jiminy standing there, smiling at the viewers as they stood on the same hill as before, before the view shifts back to the sky again, with the flower petals flying by once again.)

Olympus Coliseum

"Alright! Another win for us!" Sora cheered, twirling his Keyblade, and placing it over his shoulder.

"Take that!" Donald declared, spinning around with his staff raised.

"We're in the finals of the tournament!" Goofy cheered.

Philia smiled at her friends, as they were excited and full of confidence. True to the note they got from Hades, they entered the next tournament in the Olympus Coliseum, the Pegasus Cup. They battled their way through the multitude of enemies, winning one fight after another, gaining experience and confidence in the process.

"Just one more round, and the cup is as good as ours!" Sora declared with a determined tone.

"Nothing can stop us now!" Donald huffed with confidence.

"Donald, you know pride leads to a fall." Philia warned him, "Get overconfident, and we're asking for trouble."

"At least someone in your group is level-headed..." a voice suddenly spoke up as a pair of footsteps entered into the ring. The team looked and were stunned at the sight of who their next opponents were. It was none other than Yuffie and Leon.

"You guys are here?!" Sora and Philia exclaimed in amazement.

"Hey, don't sound so shocked to see us." Yuffie told them, "We heard about this tournament, and guessed you guys would come about to take it on."

"So don't make it easy for us." Leon told the two, pulling out his Gunblade, while Yuffie pulled out shurikens.

"We're...really doing this, aren't we?" Sora asked, hesitantly.

"Sora, don't worry." Goofy assured him, "We'll be working together to beat 'em."

"Leon is tough, but don't let him intimidate you." Philia assured him, "Just keep your guard up, and you'll be okay." Sora nodded in assurance.

"Hello... I'm fighting, too." Yuffie pointed out, "Let me show you what the great ninja thief Yuffie can do!" She threw a pair of shurikens at the team, who dodged out of the way. Leon charged forward, and tried to catch Sora with his guard down. However, he placed his guard up with his Keyblade, and endured the attack.

"Go help Sora, Goofy!" Philia shouted to the captain of the guard, who nodded in response, and aided Sora. This left her and Donald to face Yuffie, who smirked as she readied more shurikens.

"Time to see if our little treasure hunter got better with her skills than last!" She told Philia, tossing her weapon at Philia. She knew Yuffie wouldn't miss a second time, so she deflected the attack with her dagger, sending it over the ninja's head. Yuffie looked at her shuriken above her for a second, before seeing Philia dash in, and clash her dagger with Yuffie's spare weapon.

"I'm a lot tougher than what I use to be!" Philia warned her, "And I got more people to back me up!" She pushed Yuffie away as Donald unleashed a Thunder spell, dropping the bolt of lightning on top of her. As she shook that off, Philia took the moment to prepare Aero around her, before coming at Yuffie again.

Meanwhile, Sora and Goofy were backing one another up as they kept Leon on his toes. His fire spells were knocked back by Goofy's shield, causing Leon to be dazed for merely a second before Sora unleashed his flurry of slashes.

"Not bad..." Leon told the two, "But I still have more tricks up my sleeve than what you thought." He raised his gunblade high, and energy surged from it. It coated the exterior, extending the blade to twice its' size. Sora and Goofy had shocked expressions, and saw they were in trouble now. "It's over!" Leon shouted, leaping up and bringing down the long sword onto the pair, who frightfully got out of the way. The attack created a shockwave that went along in a straight line, creating a groove along the arena field.

Sora looked startled at that attack, and looked to Leon, who looked at Sora in a way that he shouldn't underestimate him. The Keyblade wielder gulped, but he kept his cool. "He really hasn't shown me all he had before..." he muttered, "But I'm still stronger than I was then." He turned to Goofy, Donald and Philia as he shouted, "Let's show em' we're the better fighters here, alright?!"

"Right!" The trio responded with smiles on their faces. Yuffie and Leon looked to one another, with the ninja thief smiling at how determined they were. Leon remained stone-faced, but was smiling at how much these guys grew on the inside. He and Yuffie turned to see the quartet of heroes charge forward, roaring battlecries of determination as they continued the fight.

Later on, aboard the Gummi Ship, Sora was patching up his injuries from that same fight, thanks to Goofy and his bandages. "Ow! You'd think they go a bit easier than that." Sora grimaced, wincing at the injury on his right leg, where Leon struck a hard blow to him.

"I knew Leon and Yuffie were not gonna hold back." Philia pointed out, placing a bandaid on her cheek from a shuriken cut, "But we did manage to pull out a victory in the end."

The victory was close. Sora was injured at the leg, but Philia redirected one of Yuffie's enhanced shuriken with her Cross Edge Dagger Skill, using her horizontal slash to send the weapon to Leon, phasing him enough for Sora and Goofy to unleash a tag-team strike to finish him off, while Donald followed Philia's attack she brought upon Yuffie with a Fira spell, finishing her off, too.

"Yep. And didn't ya get a new special move because of that, Sora?" Goofy asked, done with fixing up Sora.

"Yeah. Leon gave me the technique." Sora answered, looking at his Keyblade, which he had leaned it against his seat, "It was called 'Strike Raid'. He said it was a throwing move for my Keyblade."

"I'm glad you got a power-up from him, but I'm just as happy that we got a compliment from both of them." Philia told the team, "I only wished Phil was just as pleased as they were..."

"Why doesn't he think of us as heroes yet?!" Donald huffed, irritated by Phil.

"He said we had the strength, but not the heart, yet..." Sora recalled, looking at the dome glass roof, "I wonder what kind of heart makes a true hero?" Everyone hummed as they pondered on the answer to that question. It wasn't an easy one at all.

"Guys, I think I see the next world ahead of us!" Jiminy told the team, and they looked ahead to see the next world off in the distance. It was a new world, indeed. A world that took place underwater.

"What kind of world is this place?" Sora asked, as everyone stood up to look at the new location.

"According to the ship, it's called 'Atlantica'." Jiminy answered, reading the description.

"Welp, I hope we all packed our swimmin' trunks." Goofy joked.

"And oxygen tanks." Philia added, "I don't see any other way for us to breath down there. And I get the feeling that if this world has a Keyhole, it will be somewhere deep within the sea."

"So, how will we go down there without drowning?" Sora asked.

Donald suddenly started to chuckle, drawing the attention of the rest of the team. "Just leave it to me!" He assured them, raising his wand, "With a bit of magic, it will be no problem!"

Jiminy hopped into Sora's pocket again as the five others walked onto the transporter. "Setting coordinates for a nice, Heartless-free area in the sea." Goofy told the team, before climbing aboard.

"Are you sure your magic can help us here?" Philia asked, "Don't tell me we'll be stuck in air bubbles or something."

"Nope. Even better." Donald assured her, raising his staff high, "I know a bit of transformation magic. Just watch!" His magic staff unleashed a burst of energy that encased the roof above the transporter, before descending down onto the group. They felt their bodies starting to change as they vanished from sight, teleporting down into the world below.

When they came out, bubbles consumed each and everyone of them. They could see that they were clearly underwater. However, they were not drowning at all. They were breathing fine. "This is incredible!" Sora gasped, looking about, "We can breath fine!"

"Uh...Sora?" Philia called out hesitantly to the Keyblade wielder, and he turned to her. His face went red at the sight of Philia. She was no longer in her usual garments anymore. In fact, the only thing she wore right now was a metallic-silver, seashell bra with a red strap, a black cloth that covered the place where her short-shorts were, and a light blue water lily in her hair. But the strangest change was the fact that from the waist down, her legs were completely replaced with a light-blue fish tail, with transparent fins hidden by her black cloth.

"Ph-Philia?!" Sora gasped, "Y-Your body!"

Philia was already startled at the sight of seeing Sora, who had lost all his clothing, and now had a deep blue dolphin tail, complete with dorsal fin. However, the moment Philia looked down at herself, all the shock went from embarrassment. She squealed as she covered her revealing chest. "Wha-what the hell is this?!" She demanded, her face totally red. She looked up at Sora as she barked, "Stop staring!"

"I-I didn't mean to stare!" Sora defended, averting her gaze from Philia. He had not seen a teenage girl with such little attire on her, not even Kairi. But now that he saw how Philia looked without her garments, he wasn't sure what to feel. And he felt even more uncomfortable that he was without any clothes, himself.

"Donald, what the heck did you do to us?!" Philia demanded, glaring all about until she saw Donald and Goofy above them. However, they didn't look the same as the others did. Goofy had transformed into a turtle, with the exception of his head looking the same as before. Donald's body from the torso up was bare, but his bottom half had the look of an octopus.

"It's how my magic works." Donald told them, as he was hanging upside down, "In order for us to breath, we had to turn you two into a merman and mermaid."

"A mermaid? Me?" Philia questioned, looking down herself again. She blushed as she demanded, "You could've at least let me keep my cape or something! I don't like to wear so little around you boys!"

"It's kinda weird for me, too." Sora agreed.

"I think this is rather fun." Goofy chortled, swimming past the pair lazily.

The two humans paused, blushing at their new looks. Finally, Sora forced a smile as he said, "Well, it's not like we can change how we look, now. Might as well get use to it." He made a hesitant laugh, trying to brush off his embarrassment.

Philia narrowed her eyes, believing Sora might be trying to say this for alternative reasons. She knew he wasn't that kind of guy, but that didn't stop her from calling him, "Pervert..."

Sora looked stunned and blushed, then argued, "I am not a pervert! Philia, don't make the situation worse!"

Philia sighed, then lowered her arms. "Sorry. Just...don't spend so much time looking at me while I'm like this."

"Sure..." Sora agreed.

"Guys!" Jiminy shouted, the only one who hadn't had his appearance changed, as he was able to breath underwater just fine for some reason, "I see someone approaching this way!" He pointed to the tunnels ahead, and the four looked to see three characters approaching them.

Two of them were aquatic animals. One was a yellow and blue-striped chubby fish with all but his flipper fins being blue, too. The other was a red and salmon-colored crab, though a bit more cartoony than an average one. The third was a mermaid like Philia, and around her age, as well. She had blue eyes, red lips, long, flowing cherry-red hair, a slender, hourglass figure, with a green tail for her bottom half, the same style as Philia's tail. She had a purple seashell bra, with a matching-colored strap.

"Come on, Sebastian!" Aerial called to the paddling crab in the back of the group.

"Wait, Ariel! Slow down! Don't leave me alone!" The crab called Sebastian pleaded. He then saw the group they were heading towards, and cried out, "There are people in front of us! Look out!"

The mermaid, Ariel, stopped and examined the group. Compared to herself, Philia felt that this new mermaid was much more relaxed at showing her figure. This made her relieved slightly, as it was normal, and embarrassed that there was another beautiful girl like this, wearing so little, approaching Sora.

Finally, Ariel said, "Relax, Sebastian. I don't think they're their allies. Right, Flounder?" She looked down at her fish friend at this question.

"I don't know." he answered hesitantly, "There's something weird about them. They all swim strangely, too."

Sora made a nervous laugh as he asked, "What do you mean?"

Ariel started to swim around Sora and Philia, pointing out, "They do seem a little different. Where are you from?"

"Just...from a different ocean?" Philia answered, making up a story on the spot, "It's really far away from here. We ended up swept here by accident."

"Right. And we're not really used to these waters." Sora followed, giving a bit of a nervous chuckle at this. Philia elbowed him on the side, making him yelp and stop his chuckle.

"Oh, I see..." Ariel understood with a note of sympathy towards the pair, "In that case, Sebastian can show you how we swim around here."

Sebastian, who was in a supposed glaring contest with Donald, turned at his name being called. He panicked as he stated, "Ariel, King Triton will not like this!" The heroes looked to one another, understanding the fact that there was a king in this world, too.

"Oh, don't worry." Ariel assured him, then looking to the group, "What are your names?"

"I'm Sora. This is Philia." the Keyblade wielder introduced them, "That's Donald, and that's Goofy." The others gave a sign of greeting in response to this. Jiminy hid himself in Goofy's shell, just in case.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ariel." The mermaid greeted, "It's nice to meet you." She turned to Sebastian and followed, "Okay. Let's help them out."

"Easy for you to say..." Sebastian sighed, "Okay, it's time you learn how to swim properly."

For the next minute or two, the two former humans practiced with their new tails, swimming about, following Flounder and tagging him in multiple parts of the area they were in. Ariel helped Philia out a bit, seeing as they were both female. They were fortunate to be quick learners, and were able to adapt to their new bodies.

'This is a lot of fun, really...' Sora told himself, shifting his backside to swim upwards.

'I'll just have to get use to this new look, but everything else is straight-forward.' Philia mentally stated, spiraling into a barrel roll around Sebastian, as he watched the two.

"Good job." He told them, "Now let's move on to self-defense..." Sora and Philia looked to one another, then pulled out their blades, ready to train with them.

"Sebastian!" Ariel cried out, pointing to where she and her friends came from. A heard of jellyfish started to swim their way towards the group. However, upon closer inspection, they soon realized that they were no mere jellyfish. They were Heartless.

"Swim quickly!" Sebastian shouted, paddling as quickly as he could, with Flounder and Ariel swimming away from the oncoming enemy. The quartet of heroes, however, were not gonna run, as they readied their weapons, with Goofy having his shield on top of his shield.

"We got this!" Sora declared, and he readied the tip of his Keyblade, charging up a Blizzara spell. Philia and Donald also readied their ice-based magic. Ariel and the others stopped and turned to see the trio fire off their magic, striking the group of jellyfish Heartless, and making them all vanish.

"That was great!" Ariel stated excitedly, "You defeated all those people by yourselves."

"They are not people. They're Heartless." Goofy corrected them.

'So there are aquatic Heartless, too. I shouldn't be surprised.' Philia told herself, disgruntled at the thought.

"What were they doing here?" Sora asked.

"They chased us here." Ariel explained, looking at the area where the Heartless came from.

"Are there any other places they might've gone to?" Philia asked. She was trying to find hints on where the Keyhole might be.

"Oh, no! They might be heading to the palace, too!" Sebastian suddenly realized, "We'd better head back right away!"

"Let us come, too." Sora asked, "If there are more Heartless, we're better off defeating them and protecting you."

"Thank you." Ariel thanked him, "I'll introduce you to King Triton when we reach there. He's my father."

"Your the daughter of a king?" Philia questioned, "Then you're..a princess, right?" This was a realization that she hinted towards the others. If she was a princess, could she be related to the Princesses of Heart? Was she like Alice or Jasmine? Either way, this gave them a further reason to join Ariel back to the palace.

"I don't want to face more of those horrible monsters again!" Sebastian whined, as the four heroes, along with Ariel and Flounder, began swimming back the way they came.

It was fortunate that there were arrows, or rather tridents, etched on the wall that told them where to go. Using them, they were able to swim their way towards the palace. They had to go through an undersea valley, some caves, and even a gorge, defeating several Heartless while they were at it, too. As for treasures, they were able to discover them within giant clams, some of which had to be opened with magic.

Ariel, as it turns out, was able to fight a bit to help them out. She not only had her tail to whack enemies with, along with tricky swimming skills but also bottles containing magic, from attacking with Thunder, defending with Aero, and healing with Cure.

"Fighting underwater is way different than on land." Philia pointed out to Sora, unleashing her Round Accel Dagger Skill, taking out a couple of the jellyfish Heartless, which were called Sea Neon.

"No kidding. It's hard to use my special techniques underwater, and I can't use any summons here either." Sora stated, unleashing a Fire Spell at another jellyfish, "Donald told me summoning allies here would cause them to drown in this water."

He suddenly saw a Search Ghost Heartless appear, coming at her with brandished claws. "Look out!" He shouted, pulling her out of the way. She had her eyes closed from being startled, but felt herself being flung into Sora's bare chest. Sora instinctively had his arms around her, but didn't realize the kind of mistake he made. The two paused for a moment, looking at each other for a moment. Then Philia, blushing horribly, pushed Sora out of the way in a girlish squeal, and slapped him across the face, causing him to spin in the water.

"Sora! I can't believe you would do that!" Philia barked, "And after what you promised me before!"

"Ow! I was just trying to pull you out of the way of an attack!" Sora defended, "I didn't mean for us to be in that position!"

"But you didn't have to wrap your arms around me. That was unnecessary!"

"It was a reflex. I didn't know what I was doing until I did it!"

Philia grumbled, turning away from Sora, while he wanted to figure out what was the right way to take this approach with her. Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian, having cleared all the Heartless, were watching the two from a distance.

"Why is Philia angry with him?" Flounder asked, "Sora did save Philia there."

"You'll understand when you grow up, child." Sebastian answered, being the oldest and seeing the most to know what they were both feeling.

"Yeah, and so will Sora...I hope." Donald added.

Ariel looked at Philia, seeing the rosy marks across her face, understanding from a female's perspective what she was feeling. Even with close friends, there are some things a guy shouldn't do to a girl unless they were much closer.

She swam up to Philia, grabbing her by the hand, and pulling her along as she said, "I understand. After all, being a mermaid is tough. Especially since you're very pretty."

The treasure hunter blushed horribly, looking at Ariel, retorting, "M-Me? Pretty? Come on! I mean, yeah, I have looks. But I bet you've got way more merfolk going gaga for you."

"You think?" Ariel asked, "I haven't met anyone who is like that. I wonder why?"

Sora swam up to the rest of the boys as they swam behind the two. "Those two are hitting it off as friends." he pointed out.

"Ya know, I notice Philia really getting chummy with most of the girls we meet." Goofy recalled.

"It's a girl thing. You wouldn't understand." Donald huffed pompously.

"Oh, and you would know?" Sora asked, looking disbelieving at Donald, who glared back at him.

"I swear, these children will drive me crazy!" Sebastian sighed, paddling in the back of the group, with Jiminy holding onto his shell so as not to get left behind.

The team finally made it to open waters, and saw the palace far off into the distance. Unfortunately, Sebastian's fears proved to be true. Some of the Heartless were making their way to Triton's Palace, including new ones that they discovered were called Screwdivers. They made sure to clear out as many as they could, with Philia now fighting more closely to Ariel and further from Sora. It was only a temporary thing in her heart, as she was still angry with him.

They made their way into the palace, with Ariel guiding them to the throne room. Unfortunately, they got caught off guard by some Screwdiver Heartless, and had to make a swim for it. As soon as they got to the throne room, however, a beam of lightning shot past the group, destroying the Heartless in one shot.

"That was too close." Said a masculine voice. Sitting at the throne was a merman, and by all looks, the team could tell he was the king Ariel wanted to introduce them too. He was larger than the rest of them, and even more muscular. He had white hair, a large, flowing white beard, eye that were the same color as his daughter's, and a dark blue fish tail for his lower half. He had golden vambraces with studs, a gold crown decorating his head, and a golden trident in his hands.

"As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace." he growled, his glare intimidating the heroes.

"Daddy!" Ariel greeted her father happily. However, her smile faded at the sight of his disapproving face.

"Oh, Ariel!" He scolded her, "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there! Strange creatures lurk outside." Ariel frowned, folding her arms at her father's protective nature.

'Well, guess now we know why no guys have approached to hit on Ariel.' Philia understood, 'With an intimidating king like this guy for your father, you'd have to have nerves of steel to even ask her out. And I doubt he's the kind of guy who would give Ariel to any man.'

Sebastian cleared his throat as he introduced to the heroes, "Behold. You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton." The four heroes were nervous, but they bowed respectively to the king. Jiminy hid out of sight for the moment, writing down everything that happened in this world so far in his journal.

"And who are they?" King Triton asked, curiously, "They don't look like people who live around here."

"They helped us fight off those creatures." Ariel explained.

"We're from an ocean very far away." Sora fibbed, remembering the same story he gave to Ariel and her companions.

"We're not suspicious." Goofy added, "We came to find the Keyhole." Donald and Philia looked baffled that he would just blab out something that no one of this world would or should know.

"The what?" Triton looked oddly shocked at this bit of news.

"What's that?" Ariel asked.

Goofy was about to answer when the king barked, "There's no such thing. Certainly not here."

"But, daddy...!" the little mermaid pleaded.

"Ariel, not another word!" Triton growled, "You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear?!"

Ariel glared at her father, hating his disapproval and strictness towards her. Finally, she turned around, grabbing Philia's arm as she said, "Let's go..." With that, she led her friends out of the throne room, going back outside the palace.

"I mean it!" Triton shouted to his daughter, before they vanished from sight, leaving him and Sebastian alone. After a few seconds, his glare softened into a regretful one as he asked, "Perhaps I'm being too strict... I'm just concern for her safety."

"Of course, your Majesty." Sebastian understood, swimming about Triton, "But I must admit, now I'm quite curious about this Keyhole."

Triton raised a hand to the crab, his glare forming as he stated, "That need not concern you, Sebastian. Have you anything to report?"

"Just as you suspected, Your Majesty..." Sebastian moaned, "...they seem to be coming from Ursula's grotto."

"I knew it!" Triton growled, "That sea witch is up to no good again. I see exile from the palace has taught her nothing."

"Yes, she poses serious danger." Sebastian fearfully agreed.

The king glared at Sebastian as he reminded, "And I told you to keep Ariel away from such danger, did I not?" The crab was trying to find words to his defense, though was too afraid to give a straight answer.

Outside the palace, the heroes were swimming as far as they could, with Ariel sighing, "I'm so sorry. My father is so stubborn."

"True...but he was awfully defensive when we spoke up about the Keyhole." Philia noticed, "The way he acted...it was like he knew what we were looking for."

"If he knows where it is, shouldn't he tell us?" Sora asked.

"You're missing the point." Donald told him, "He might know more than just where the Keyhole is."

"He might even know what it's suppose to be." Philia finished, her face expressing her deep thinking. If Triton knew about the Keyhole, what else could he know? Could he know about the Heartless? Or possibly something greater that most people shouldn't know?

"What's so special about this Keyhole?" Flounder asked.

"I-It's nothing." Sora stammered.

"Let's just say we have to find it before the monsters get to it." Philia explained, "I would say we should ask King Triton, but..."

"Don't worry about him. I can help you find it." Ariel stated, "Honestly, I wish to leave this palace and see the world, but daddy won't allow it."

"A bit overprotective, don't you think?" Donald questioned.

Ariel was deep in thought for a second, then something came to mind, "Hey, why don't I show you to my grotto. I want to show you something. It's right this way." She paddled her tail downwards, towards a part of the wall, where a large boulder seem to be blocking a hole in the wall. With some help from everyone, they moved the boulder to one side, and went into the grotto.

They went inside, and found themselves inside a circular room that was quite tall, with the roof of the grotto revealing a hole that allowed sunlight to shine down into the place. There was level upon level of shelves going upwards, and they all contained a variety of stuff. Based on what they saw, it looked like Ariel was collecting random kinds of junk. However, upon detailed analysis, they could see that they all were things found in the land above the ocean. Pots, books, silverware, anything that regular humans used or made up above.

"Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected." Ariel told them excitedly, "I think it's all from the outside world. Someday, I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds. Does that sound strange?" Philia, worried Sora might say something that would tell Ariel and Flounder they were from another world, was looking behind as her hands were touching a candelabra.

"No. Not at all." Sora answered, "I used to feel the same way."

"Used to?" Ariel echoed, confused. Philia flinched from what she caught.

"I mean...I still do." Sora corrected himself hastily.

Ariel paused, then she suggested, "Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole you were talking about?"

"But your father said-."

"Oh, he treats me like a little girl." Ariel abruptly growled, "He never wants to let me do anything. He just... He just doesn't understand." She turned to Philia, who discovered a familiar torn page, and asked, "You would know how I feel. How did you convince your parents so you could leave with your friends?"

Philia's expression went from surprise, to sadness. All of this time, she had been looking for her memories, trying to find out where she came from, and not once, did she even think about who her parents were. The thought never occurred to her that she even had parents...until now. But that brought up several questions for her. Did she have both parents? What were they like? What traits did she gain from them? The thoughts of not knowing chewed up inside of her, and she felt guilty for not pondering about it in the first place.

Sora, seeing Philia's saddened expression, was quick to figure out what she was thinking about, and quickly told Ariel, "Philia doesn't know who her parents are. She...lost her memory a while back."

"Oh!" Ariel realized what she said was a mistake, and followed up with, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. Don't worry." Philia assured her, trying to put on a brave face, "Sora, Donald and Goofy have been helping me try to remember who I am again. That's...part of the reason why we're looking for the Keyhole. It might help me remember a fragment of my memory. I mean, there are others reasons for finding it, but that is one..." She paused as she thought back to the world of Agrabah. Come to think of it, that was the one time the Keyhole didn't unlock part of her memory. And there were times where she remembered something about herself that didn't involve a Keyhole. Did that mean the memory recall was not based on them.

Either way, Ariel looked even more determined as she stated, "Then I am more determined to help you find that Keyhole. If it helps you remember who you are, then I want to help. We are friends, right?" She held Philia's hands in her own, and the two looked at one another. After a few seconds, Philia smiled and nodded in approval.

"But where would you think this Keyhole might be?" Flounder asked curiously, "It'll need a key."

"Oh, Sora's weapon is the key." Goofy assured him, "But we need to find the location of the Keyhole first."

"Let's check out the calm depths." Ariel suggested, "The waters are a bit strong, but with the help of the dolphins, we can make it there. Come on!" She led the heroes out of the grotto. However, they were all unaware of the two pairs of eyes that were watching them as they left, coming from two eels, who belonged to someone that was not friendly.

After reaching the undersea valley, Ariel called upon a couple of the dolphins, and the heroes all held onto them as they swam through currents that would've been too tough for the heroes to get through.

When they made it through the calm depths, they found themselves going out of a tunnel, and into an open area, with the main attraction being a sunken ship in the dead center of it. Other hulls and pieces of rowboats and whatnot were scattered about the area.

"All of a sudden, my treasure hunter senses are on height alert here." Philia stated, looking about the place intriguingly, "There has to be some goods around here."

"You think so?" Sora asked, a little excited by the idea, as well.

"But what about the Keyhole?" Donald asked.

"There might be a clue to where it is around here." Ariel assumed, pointing at the main sunken ship, "Let's search that thing."

"A-Are you sure?" Flounder asked, looking scared to get near the ship, "M-Maybe we should swim somewhere else." He turned and was about to swim away, but Ariel grabbed his tail fin.

"Come on. Don't get cold fins on us, now." she told him, "We'll be fine, if we got there together." They all swam towards the sunken galleon, hoping to find something, unaware of another set of eyes watching them.

They investigated the interior of the ship, with Philia and Donald finding more material for synthesizing. "When we meet the Moogle again, we have to go and make some new pieces for us to use." she told Donald, who nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Sora, Ariel, Flounder and Goofy discovered something in the back of the area below deck, near a window. It looked like a crystal shaped like a three-pronged Rosario or something. "Wow!" Ariel gasped, swimming to the crystal and picking it up in her hands, "Have you seen anything so beautiful?"

"Yeah. Looks nice..." Flounder agreed, though he wasn't really paying attention, but looking about in fear.

"Hm. It's shape reminds me of something..." Sora muttered, as the four examined the crystal, facing away from the window, unaware of something starting to appear in it.

As the four looked at it, Philia and Donald had just rose up from the area at the lower part of the hull, and was joining the others when they saw what they were unaware of. There was a large shark at the window, its' fangs bared as it was ready to attack.

"Look out!" The two shouted to the others in a panic. Everyone else turned, and saw the shark charge in with its' mouth open wide. Flounder screamed in panic as they all swam away, just as the shark barged through the window, chomping down on the spot they were at moments ago.

"Swim for it!" Sora exclaimed as they swam up to the main deck, with everyone else behind him, including the shark, who chomped down on the wooden planks of the ship every time it got close to them.

"Where did this thing come from?!" Donald exclaimed, swimming far enough to turn and unleash a Fira spell down at the shark, hitting it on the nose. It glared at Donald, who panicked as it lunged at him, nearly chomping down on his tentacles.

"It's the freakin' ocean! Sharks can pop up anywhere!" Philia argued, coming from behind and unleashing several slashes with her dagger, before nearly getting her tail chomped off by the shark, forcing her to swim away.

"Save me, Ariel!" Flounder cried out, swimming as far as he could away from the shark. Ariel saw Philia being pursed by the shark as she was coming her direction. It's mouth was open wide as it slightly shifted towards the little mermaid, ready to eat her. She swam out of the way, unaware of the other person behind her who became the next target; Goofy.

"Goofy, swim away!" Sora shouted, swimming towards his buddy. Goofy panicked, seeing the shark was too close to swim away from, and dove into his turtle shell. The shark chomped down on him, and there was the sound of something breaking. Everyone feared it was Goofy's shell that had broken under the shark's teeth. However, it was the opposite effect; The shark's teeth shattered from Goofy's shell.

"Sora, Stop spell!" Philia shouted. Sora nodded in agreement, and the two pointed their weapons at the shark, shouting, "Stop!" The time magic made the shark freeze in one place.

"Everyone, attack!" Sora shouted, and the team came at the time-froze shark at all directions, unleashing magic, body blows, and slashes with their weapons. When time continued for the shark, it felt the full blast of everyone attacks, and it crippled in the water, completely defeated by the team attack. It fell to the ocean floor, unconscious.

"Let's get out of here before it wakes up." Sora told the team, and they swam into a new tunnel, getting as far away from the shark as they possibly could.

The tunnel supposedly led to a dead end, with something large blocking the path above, and a glowing hole that led to some underwater vents. Sora smacked the hole, loosening something inside. The underwater vents started to create powerful currents to shoot out of the hole, causing the thing blocking the path above to be dislodged. They swam with the current, and saw that the thing that blocked their path before turned out to be a large treasure chest. Philia used her pick-locking skills to unlock the chest, revealing a rare material, an Orichalcum, inside of it. "Told ya there was something good!" She told the team, who looked amazed at the new material.

"Look!" Flounder pointed something out. Turns out, the tunnel they came out of was right next to Ariel's grotto.

"Come on! I have the perfect place to put this." Ariel told the team, indicating the crystal piece they found, and they swam into her grotto.

When they entered in, the team watched as Ariel swam to something on the wall. It was a blue wall piece of sorts, with a grooved piece inside that was the exact same shape as the crystal piece they found. "That's convenient." Philia muttered, as Ariel carefully placed the crystal into the wall piece. It fit perfectly.

"So...what is this suppose to be?" Sora asked, looking at the complete piece.

"It's a nice wall decoration." Goofy noticed.

"It has been here since I discovered this place." Ariel told the group, "I never knew what it was for, but I wanted to discover its' secrets. Maybe this crystal is the key to it."

As they all looked at it, Sora felt something coming from his Keyblade. A familiar sense. Could this piece be...

"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again! I told you not to leave the palace!" A booming voice growled from behind. Everyone turned in fear as they saw King Triton suddenly come through the hole into the grotto, glaring at his daughter. Sebastian was crawling behind, trying to look as small as possible in fear of the king

King Triton stopped as he saw the crystal embedded into the wall piece behind the group. He looked shocked at the sight of it, but his glare reformed as his trident glowed. He raised it high before pointing it at the wall piece. "Daddy, no!" Ariel cried out, but too late. A lightning bolt shot from the trident, zooming past the group, and shattered the crystal in one go.

Everyone gasped at the damage Triton did. Ariel looked more devastated than the others, seeing all the hard work she and her new friends went through to get the crystal. "How could you..." she whimpered, "That was too much..." She sniffled as she swam quickly around her father, escaping him.

"Ariel, wait!" Flounder shouted, as he swam after her. Sebastian, not wanting to be in the grotto with the angry king, swam after them, leaving King Triton and the six heroes alone.

"That was unnecessary!" Philia growled.

"Even if you are her father, that was too much!" Donald argued.

Triton ignored the pair, glaring at Sora for a second. Finally, he said, "Young man, you're not from another ocean. You're from another world, aren't you?"

The question was so out of the blue, and so startling, that the team had nothing but shock in their faces. Leon and his team knew of the outside world because of their travel to Traverse Town and of Ansem the Wise. Maleficent and her group of villains knew of the outside world by some other means, but at least they knew the existence of one another and their worlds. How King Triton know of the outside world was unknown to them. Before they could ask him how he knew, he continued to speak to Sora.

"Then you must be the Key Bearer." He continued, again startling the group, "You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail."

Sora looked disgruntled at being found out so easily, while Philia, feeling guilty for Sora, made a brave face as she asked, "So what if that's true? And what do you plan to do with us?"

Triton looked to her, snapping, "You would watch your tongue, if I were you!" Then to Sora, he continued, "You should all understand that we belong to different worlds that should not interfere with one another. All of you are violating this principle! The Key Bearer will only bring disaster and disrupt the peace of this world!"

"Sora's not like that!" Goofy defended.

"It's the Heartless that do that, not us!" Philia argued, "We are trying to stop them, just like you are doing!"

"Leave those monsters to me." Triton told them, "As for you, while I am grateful you have saved my daughter, there is no room in my ocean for you or your key. Do not interfere too much."

He turned and started to swim away when Sora argued, "We know we can't meddle with this world. We're not stupid..." King Triton stopped, not turning around as Sora continued, "But the Heartless are meddling with this world, too. And if they're attacking your home, they must be after the Keyhole, or something else. We can't just let them go and shroud the world in darkness!" Philia, Donald and Goofy all nodded in agreement to this.

"Those creatures will never find the Keyhole. And I will certainly not tell you where it is, either." King Triton retorted, "I will defend my ocean, and I will not stand anyone who disrupts the peace I worked so hard to make. Not those creatures, and certainly not you!" With these final words, he left the grotto, leaving the team alone.

Far away from the grotto, Ariel was kneeling on the ocean floor, her head laying on a flat rock as she was crying. "I hate my dad." She sobbed, "He doesn't understand me at all. He always interferes with everything I do."

"My, my, the poor child suffers such deep sorrow." A warped voice spoke from behind her.

"What a pity. If only there were something we could do..." another voice said, and Ariel raised her head, looking above her. circling the rock she rested her head on were two moray eels, each of them having a glowing yellow eye each, but each had it on a different side.

"Wait. Maybe she can be of some help." The one with the right yellow eye suggested.

"Yes. Maybe she can be of some help to you." The one with the left yellow eye agreed.

"Who are you talking about?" Ariel questioned them suspiciously.

"Oh, she would surely help you." the first eel told her as the two rose high above Ariel, "She'd make all your dreams come true."

"Ursula can help..." the second eel spoke as the two spiraled around one another, and they became encased in a dark, inky substance. Ariel watched the ink, and out of it came another figure. She was an obese woman with her lower body being an octopus. She had dark lavender skin, with her lower half being black, going up to her chest to form something that looked like a shoulderless gown. Her hair was widow's peak styled, white, and she wore makeup, from eye shadow and lipstick, to nail polish and a beauty mark near her chin. She also sported a yellow seashell necklace. This was the sea witch, Ursula.

"You called, my dear?" Ursula asked Ariel.

"You're Ursula?" The little mermaid started hesitantly, "I was just wondering if..."

"It's all right. Helping others is what I live for." Ursula assured her, descending down to Ariel's level, "Let me guess; You wish to see other worlds. That shouldn't be too hard. After all, your new friends came from another world."

"What?!" Ariel gasped, surprised by this. Sora, Philia and the others were really from another world? She never even knew, even though there were so many signs.

"But they had special help; that mysterious key, the Keyblade." Ursula pointed out Sora's weapon. Ariel looked forlorn at this, seeing that she had never seen another like it. "Now, now. Cheer up, sweetie." Ursula continued, approaching close to her, "There is actually something quite special just beside you. Don't tell me you don't know of its' power. It's your father's trident!"

Ariel pondered on the idea. She knew King Triton's trident was quite powerful, but she never knew it was able to take her to other worlds. Did her father know about this power?

"Now listen carefully." Ursula started, getting close to Ariel's ear, "I believe the Keyhole they are searching for is somewhere inside the palace. If you can bring me inside without your daddy knowing, I will be able to bring you to the outside world."

Ariel thought for a second, but she had already chose on an answer. Her father strictness and her new friends both showed no signs of allowing her to go to the outside world. She didn't want to stay tied down in the sea anymore. If this was the only way to be free to go out there, she was gonna take her chances with Ursula.

Hidden in the rocks, Flounder and Sebastian watched in fear as Ariel nodded in agreement, and led Ursula and her eel minions towards the palace. They knew she was being tricked, but they were unsure of what they could do to stop her.

Back with the heroes, they had left Ariel's grotto, and were looking about the gorge for Ariel and Flounder. The words that Triton placed upon them still echoed inside their minds.

"I get what King Triton was getting at, but we have a mission to accomplish." Sora stated, looking at his Keyblade, "The only way to stop the Heartless is by sealing up the Keyhole, right?"

"Exactly. He may know about the Keyblade and other worlds, but it's clear he doesn't know all the facts." Philia noticed, "For one, he believes the Keyblade brings disaster, when that is not true."

"And he doesn't know how to truly stop the Heartless." Donald added, "If he did, he would show us where the Keyhole is."

"I bet if we can explain ourselves to King Triton, he'll understand." Goofy assumed.

'I doubt that would work out like you think it would...' Philia and Sora both mentally replied.

Jiminy hopped out from who knows where, getting in the middle of the group as he started, "Well, from what I can guess, he does seem to know where the Keyhole is, and we still haven't found where it is. If we can somehow prove to him that we are here for good reasons, maybe he can show us where the Keyhole is."

"He does seem too stubborn to tell us about anything, though..." Philia pointed out, "I doubt it will be that easy." The team sighed, wondering how in the heck they would try to change the mind of such a difficult character like King Triton.

"Guys!" Shrieked a panicking voice. Everyone turned and saw Flounder swimming up to them in a hurry, his face showing fear. Sebastian was paddling behind, his expression showing the same thing. Jiminy hid himself away again in Goofy's shell.

"Flounder! What's wrong?" Sora asked, easily telling there was trouble.

"A-Ariel! I just heard she was taking Ursula to the palace!" Flounder explained.

"Who?" Donald questioned.

"She's an evil sea witch who was exiled by King Triton!" Sebastian explained, "Ariel was tricked into thinking she can take her to other worlds if she had King Triton's trident!"

"We tried to stop her, but it was too late!" Flounder finished, "They already reached the palace! I think she even said that's where the Keyhole is."

"Oh, no!" Donald gasped.

"We have to hurry, now!" Sora told the team, who nodded in agreement. They swam towards the palace, not wanting to know what would happen if Ursula had her hands on the trident.

"The trident is mine at last!" Ursula declared, raising the golden trident high, "And I couldn't have done it without your help, my dear." Ursula grinned maliciously at the two victims of her trickery; Triton, who was injured heavily by her, as he sat limply on his throne, and Ariel, who was right next to her, worried for her father.

"Ursula, no! I didn't want this!" Ariel pleaded to the sea witch.

"Why not? Aren't you tired of following your dear daddy's orders? Now that he has been put in his place, I will keep my promise and bring you to the outside world. The dark world of the Heartless!"

"Dark... No!" Ariel gasped, "I change my mind! Give my father's trident back, now!"

"This is the real world, my dear." Ursula snickered, "In order to fulfill a dream, you must pay a price. Dreams that are harder to fulfill require a higher price!" She turned to her eel minions, who were scouring the throne room, "Flotsam! Jetsam! Where is the Keyhole?!"

"We cannot find the Keyhole." Flotsam answered.

"The Keyhole is not here." Jetsam followed.

"What?!" Ursula looked shocked. She had scoured the ocean as well, and had yet to find the Keyhole, either. If not here, then where?

Before she could ponder further on this, she suddenly sensed something, and turned around. Sora, Philia, Donald, Goofy, Flounder and Sebastian had finally arrived on the scene, readying their weapons. "Why, we have company." She noticed, "I'm afraid you're a little late, handsome!" She suddenly produced ink that consumed the area, causing the heroes to falter. They felt something rush past the four of them. By the time the ink cleared, Ursula and her minions all vanished from the throne room.

"Daddy!" Ariel's voice drew the attention of the team, and they turned to see the condition Triton was in.

"The trident... We must get it back." King Triton grimaced, too weak to move.

"Sora...!" Philia started.

"No need to tell me twice. We have to stop her, now!" Sora began to swim back the way they came, but was stopped by Ariel swimming around in front of him and Philia.

"Wait, I'm going with you!" She told them, "My father is hurt and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!" Sora and Philia both nodded in agreement. They knew that even if they said no, she would still go.

"That's right. I'm right behind you, Ariel!" Sebastian agreed, with Flounder, still scared, nodding in agreement to join with them.

"Ariel, no..." Triton started, trying to raise himself up, but was too weak to do anything.

Philia swam up to him, tossing the king a Hi-Potion. "We'll take care of your daughter, and stop Ursula from having her way." she assured him, "If my theory is correct, she might be with the same people who are controlling the Heartless. And we are here to stop her and those monsters. You may not believe in the power of Sora and the Keyblade, but we do."

Triton paused, looking down at the potion she had given him. Maybe he was too quick to jump to the idea they were dangerous, or that they were here to disturb the peace of his ocean. Sora's words to him back in Ariel's grotto still echoed in his ears. For once, he needed to put his prideful stubbornness away, and allow these heroes and his daughter to go and do what he cannot.

As Philia swam away, he started, "Ursula draws power from the the cauldron in her grotto. Use magic on the cauldron in order to defeat her." Philia looked back at him, nodding in thanks for the hint, before joining the others as they swam out of the palace.

According to Sebastian, Ursula's grotto was located in a secret passageway in the area with the sunken ship. Unfortunately, getting there was no easy feat, as there were more Heartless, including new, large fish Heartless called Aquatanks that carried Screwdiver with them. Nonetheless, they were able to destroy them all as they swam.

"Sora...Philia..." Ariel spoke as they swam, "Is it true...that you guys are from the outside world?" The question made the two falter, scared to lie, but Ariel added, "Ursula told me you guys came from the outside world, because of that Keyblade."

There was a pause, before Philia answered, "I guess we shouldn't lie about this, especially after we got so close. It is true."

"We've...been finding the Keyholes of other worlds so as to prevent the Heartless from getting at them." Sora explained, "If they did reach them, the world would be swallowed by darkness. They already took other worlds, including my world and Philia's."

"How awful!" Ariel gasped, feeling bad for her friends, "Are they gone for good?"

"No. We have to stop the Heartless and those controlling them in order to bring them back. At least, that's what I think." Sora answered, "That's why we're more determined to stop Ursula. We think she's working for the people, and it's all led by someone named Maleficent."

"So as we're finding them and taking them out, we're trying to seal the Keyholes, as well as find our lost friends, including my memories." Philia finished, "And right now, our priority is to prevent the enemies from winning."

"That's seems like a lot to handle." Flounder pointed out.

"True, but with all of us working together, we can accomplish anything!" Donald declared, using a Thunder spell on some Search Ghosts nearby.

They finally reached the sunken ship area. There didn't seem to be any signs of the shark that they knocked out before, which was worrying, but they decided to ignore it. There was a broken off piece of a ship that hid a button that, when Sebastian pushed it, caused a rock to sink into the sandy floor nearby, revealing a secret passage. "This'll lead us to the den of tides. That is where Ursula's grotto is at." Sebastian explained.

"Then there's only one way to go; through there." Sora understood, and he led the charge into the cavern to the den of tides.

There were several stalactites and stalagmites in the pathway to Ursula's grotto, including boiling-red glows from holes around the cavern, which more than likely came from undersea lava flows. There were also several Search Ghosts in the caverns, too. Getting to Ursula's grotto took some time, but they managed to see the eerie grotto off in the distance, and they swam towards it.

As they swam through the cavern, something caught their attention. They felt like they were being watched by thousands of eyes from underneath them. They looked down, and saw, to their horror, a huge group of polyps all across the floor. All of them had faces, and had nothing but grief and fear on their faces.

"What...is all this?" Sora asked, horror-struck by the sight of all the polyp.

"This must be...Ursula's doing!" Ariel realized, her expression filled with fear at the fate of these people that, from what the team realized, were former merpeople.

"Would you like to join them?" Echoed an eerie voice. The team turned and soon saw Ursula's lair far beyond them, with the sea witch herself floating in front of a cauldron that could fit her body in easily, but was filled with a glowing liquid. Flotsam and Jetsam were circling the room above it. Ursula didn't have the trident on her person.

"Those are the swindlers who received my help, but didn't pay the price." Ursula explained about the polyps.

"Swindlers?! They're the ones cheated by you!" Sebastian argued, only for Ursula to shout, "Shut up!", causing him and Flounder to hide away in fear.

"Now, those who block my way will disappear!" Ursula declared, tossing a potion filled with red liquid into the cauldron behind her, before glaring harshly at the heroes. The four heroes and Ariel readied themselves for battle.

'Gotta remember what King Triton said.' Philia recalled, looking at the cauldron, 'The key to defeating her is by striking the cauldron with magic.'

Ursula started spinning with her tentacles out, like a top, causing the heroes to scatter. The cauldron suddenly started to spew fireballs out, which arced upwards, falling down around the area. Flotsam and Jetsam also scattered, but were heading to the heroes. And in this cramped room, evading all three was not gonna be easy.

"Gotta aim for the cauldron..." Philia told herself, slapping Jetsam away with her tail, before raising a palm towards the Heartless, firing Fira spells into it. She unleashed a half dozen of them before the cauldron exploded with an energy shockwave which didn't harm the heroes, but affected Ursula and her eel cronies, leaving them dazed.

"Philia, how—?" Sora questioned, shocked to see the damage she had done.

"Ask later. Attack now!" Philia ordered.

Ariel was the first to go in at the weakened Ursula, unleashing a spiral blow with her body. Sora and Philia swam in and unleashed their series of slashes, followed by Donald unleashing Thunder onto her, and Goofy finishing with bash to her face that made the sound of a gong.

The series of attacks did start to make Ursula come out of her state, and she growled as she glared at Philia. "You little wretch! …I suppose Triton told you about the cauldron?"

"Yeah. Gotta hate and like the guy, huh?" Philia answered, her dagger glowing, before lunging forward with an Armor Pierce Dagger Skill. Ursula took the blow, unaware that her defenses meant nothing to this attack, and she got slammed into the wall by the attack.

"How dare you!" She barked, "Flotsam! Jetsam!" Her eels suddenly appeared, wrapping their bodies around Philia's arms, holding her in a defenseless state. She struggled against their surprising grip, before seeing Ursula spin again and propel herself towards her.

"No!" Sora and Ariel swam towards Philia at high speeds. They got close to the eels, and swung their tails around, knocking the pair from restraining Philia's arms. Once freed, she swam upwards, while the others swam to either side, just barely avoiding getting struck by Ursula's spinning tentacles.

"You just got lucky!" Ursula sassed, looking to her lackey, "Don't worry, my babies. Mommy's got you…" She suddenly casted magic from her fingertips, and healed the two eels.

"Should've known she could use magic…" Donald grimaced.

"She is called a 'sea witch', after all." Goofy noted.

"Donald! Fire spells into the cauldron again!" Philia shouted to the mage.

"Right!" Donald answered, raising his staff, before firing Fire spells into the pot.

"I don't think so!" Ursula roared, and she tossed a potion bottle into the cauldron. All of a sudden, the mixture in the cauldron turned gold, and golden fireballs came shooting out of it, raining down upon area. Donald panicked and nearly got struck by one of these fireballs, had Goofy not been there to block with his shield. Everyone else evaded as best as they could. Unfortunately, Ariel ended up not being fast enough, and got struck hard by one of the fireballs, blasting her into the wall.

"Ariel!" Sora and Philia shouted together.

"Haha! Now I'll deal with you the same way I dealt with your dear daddy!" Ursula cackled, spinning herself as she flew at Ariel.

"I don't think so!" Sora barked, swimming up in between Ursula and Ariel, and blocked with his Keyblade. Ursula's tentacles struck his blade several times, giving Philia the time to pull Ariel out of the way. Sora got knocked downward by one final tentacle strike, but was able to shake it off.

"You okay?" Philia asked Ariel.

"I'm fine, thanks to the two of you." She answered, shaking her head to refocus herself.

"Good. Cause she's not giving us an opening to the cauldron." Philia stated, looking to see Donald and Goofy fending off Flotsam and Jetsam, while Sora recovered and evaded getting hit by Ursula.

"Then what we need is a distraction." Ariel suggested, swimming towards Sora, "I should be able to do something!"

"Ariel, wait!" Philia shouted, but she saw Ariel toss a Thunder potion at Ursula, electrifying her. She turned and glared at Ariel, who turned and swam away. She swam after her, giving Sora an opening.

"Philia, with me!" Sora shouted, pointing his Keyblade at the cauldron. Philia nodded in response, and began shooting Fira spells at the cauldron with Sora. The combined pair's attacks quickly caused another energy surge to blast from the cauldron, causing Flotsam, Jetsam and Ursula to be blasted hard, causing them to be stunned.

"Everyone, hit this Sea Witch hard!" Philia ordered, her dagger glowing white for her Fad Edge Dagger Skill. She, Sora, Ariel, Donald and Goofy all came at Ursula from all sides. In many swift strikes and blasts, the five of them managed to cause a great deal to Ursula, sending her flying near a hole.

Greatly weakened, Ursula shook her head, regaining herself as she glared at the heroes. "That's it!" She barked, reaching back into the hole. Suddenly, something came to her hand, revealing to be King Triton's trident. "Those who block my way will disappear!" She declared, pointing her trident towards Sora, Philia, Donald and Goofy, with Ariel seemingly absent from the group. The teeth of the trident shined, ready to strike the group.

Suddenly, Ariel appeared from behind Ursula, and she yanked on her hair, causing the sea witch to yelp. The trident fired, but it went in a different direction…striking Flotsam and Jetsam instead of the heroes. They were electrocuted, until they disintegrated into nothingness.

"Babies!" Ursula cried, "My poor little poopsies…" She glared harshly at the heroes, as Ariel swam around to join the group. "You'll pay for this!" She roared, before turning around and swimming into the hole, disappearing from sight. The hole closed up from behind, preventing the team from swimming after her.

"Let's go. We must get the trident back." Ariel told the team.

"Right. But where else is there to go?" Philia asked, turning to the hole, "We can't go that way."

"She must've swam to open waters!" Sebastian assumed, as he and Flounder came out of hiding, "We have to go and stop her before she gets away!"

"There is a way there, but we have to go through those strong currents." Ariel told the group, "I'll teach you a way to move faster so we can get through them."

As they swam back, Ariel taught them the Mermaid Kick style, which allowed them to paddle their tails even harder to move faster and push through strong currents. The heroes were quick to learn, and by the time they reached the strong currents the dolphin helped them through, they were able to master the technique, and push through the current, reaching another hole that led them into the open waters. Flounder and Sebastian, once again, held back, since they were unable to do anything.

"You pathetic fools!" Shouted Ursula's voice, and she appeared in front and above them, "I'll show you my power!" She spiraled upwards, and her body became encased in black ink. The trident shined brightly, and Ursula's body started to grow bigger and bigger. "I am the queen of the sea!" She bellowed, her voice becoming deeper due to her size, "All sea creatures must bow to me! The sea and all its' spoils bow to my power!"

When she stopped growing, the team clearly could tell that compared to her, they were merely the size of one of her eyes. She and the trident had grown so large, they could've easily been bigger than any Heartless or even building they have seen so far. A gold half-crown was adorned on her head, signifying her domination as the ruler of the sea.

"So…anyone else feel regret?" Donald questioned.

"If you wanna chicken out, be my guest." Philia told him, readying her dagger, "But I don't think Ursula will let us get far now!" She was right, as Ursula created a large swirling cyclone that encased them, preventing escape. Broken ships and such started to get carried up and around the vortex, like a swarm of airplanes spiraling around the kaiju sea witch.

"She may be big, but we're more nimble!" Sora declared, readying his Keyblade, "Let's sashimi this sea witch!" Everyone else nodded in agreement, and swam at her.

"Hey you, not so fast!" Ursula bellowed, and small magic lights started to shine above and around her. All of a sudden, lightning started shooting from these lights, coming down upon the heroes. They scattered and evaded as best as they could. Sora roared as he unleashed several slashes against Ursula's side, but she seemed unfazed. Same went for Philia and Goofy combined attacks.

"Get ready for this!" Ursula shouted, sucking in quickly, before spewing out water balls from her mouth at Donald and Ariel, causing them to swim around them to avoid getting struck.

"Get away from them!" Sora roared, getting behind Ursula's ripply neck, and smacking her several times.

"You little insect!" Ursula growled, turning around, and inhaling strongly. Sora felt himself getting pulled into her mouth, and tried to swim as hard as he could from being eaten.

"I gotcha!" Philia called to him, grabbing him by the arm, and pulling him out of range of Ursula's vacuum.

"Slippery little morsels!" She growled, "Let's see you escape this!" She created more lightning spots, which came down upon the pair, electrifying them.

"Sora/Philia!" Donald, Goofy and Ariel shouted, before charging in, unleashing spinning shield attacks, fire, and lightning spells. The trio didn't seem to do that much to Ursula, who leered at them from the corner of her eye.

"Come on! Get over here, you ugly, little fishes!" She growled, three of her tentacles rising up from below, wrapping themselves around the three, "Worship me, Ursula, the queen of the sea!" The trio struggled in vain as they were pulled away from Ursula's range, binding their bodies and limbs, with the exception of Ariel's arms.

"Guys!" "No!" Sora and Philia shouted, fearing their friends in danger.

"Now, as for you!" Ursula growled, turning to face the two, and unleashing more balls of water at the pair. They swam out of the way, getting in close.

"She's just keeps hitting us with one attack after another!" Sora exclaimed, trying to avoid lightning as it fell about him.

"Then maybe we need to stop her in her tracks!" Philia growled, raising her dagger high, "Stop!" Ursula suddenly froze in place, her time frozen. "Let's go, Sora!" She ordered, swimming in, readying her dagger, making it glow dark purple. Sora swam in, and begun unleashing several slashes with his Keyblade, while Philia unleashed her Shadow Stitch Dagger Skill, striking a couple times with her dagger, before unleashing a spin kick with her tail.

When Ursula came out of the Stop spell, she felt all the attacks that the two delivered at once, which was enough to faze her a bit. "Insolent little fools!" She barked, and she unleashed a lightning energy ray from her mouth at the two. The two scatted as best as they could, but Philia ended up getting clipped by the tail. She felt the electric attack surge from her tail upwards.

"Philia!" Ariel cried out, managing to pull out a Cure potion, and sending it towards the treasure hunter. The potion healed her up when it got close.

"Thanks." Philia thanked the mermaid, "Don't worry. We'll untangle you from this sea witches' grasp!" She joined Sora as they continued the fight.

Ursula was completely overwhelming the pair in regards to strength and endurance. Speed and quick-thinking, on the other hand, were on Sora and Philia's favor. Yes, Ursula's lighting bolts, water balls, vacuum inhale, and lightning rays from her mouth were all dangerous attacks. However, Sora and Philia were both able to avoid the attacks most of the time, turning around and unleashing slashes, Dagger Skills, and spells upon Ursula. Unfortunately, this didn't look like it was weakening her one bit, even though it was.

"Even with our Stop spell and our combined strongest combos, she isn't fazed!" Sora exclaimed, narrowly avoiding a ring of lightning bolts and rained down around Ursula, causing them to fall back.

"We need something really strong and devastating, right now." Philia grimaced, looking down at Donald, Goofy and Ariel, all of which were worn from their struggle, but still holding on, "We need some way to loosen her grip on our friends AND take the trident, but what?" She looked about the area, trying to look for a solution. Apart from them, there was the giant Ursula, her trident, their captured friends, the lightning, the swirling vortex they were trapped in, and the ships flying around the exterior.

Suddenly, an idea clicked into her mind. There was something here that could unleash a devastating attack. But in order to make it happen, they needed one of them to distract Ursula.

As she evaded the lightning, she got to Sora, grabbing his free hand, and pulling him close as they swam while evading. Sora blushed as he felt Philia's shoulder touched his, questioning, "Wh- Philia, what are you?!"

"Just listen to me." She whispered, "I have a plan. Can you pilot one of those ships out there?" She jerked her head towards the large galleons swirling around the vortex.

"I mean, maybe. But…" Sora started.

"I'll give you an opening, you give her a barge with the barge." She told him, and she swam at Ursula. Sora, pausing for a second, suddenly realized what she was getting at. It was a pretty reckless idea, and he had to do it right. There was no time to think on the matter. Philia trusted Sora with this task, so he decided to take it. He swam towards the edge of the vortex, trying to claim a ship.

"Where is he going?!" Donald demanded, seeing Sora swim away from the fight.

Ursula glared to where Sora was heading to, but heard Philia shout, "Hey, you overgrown octopus!" She turned to see Philia swim up to her face, straightening herself up as she stated, "I get you wanna be queen, but let's be honest…" She placed one hand on her hip, and the other on the back of her head, showing off her figure, "…Compared to this good-looking figure, the only queen you'll ever be is the queen of obesity!"

Everyone, except for Sora, who was out of hearing range, had dead-panned expressions at Philia below-the-belt taunt. "What?!" Ursula growled, her rage increasing.

"I mean, let's be honest. You're not exactly cutting back on the in-between meals." Philia continued in a sassy manner, "And you growing yourself big like this? That just shows more flab than there was before. It'll take me a whole hour to swim around your waist, at best."

If she wanted Ursula's attention, she got it. Ursula's eyes were so red with rage, she could hardly contain it. She was pulsing with magic energy, causing static to course around her body. "YOU COCKY LITTLE BRAT! I'LL TEACH YOU SOME RESPECT!" She unleashed a lightning ray down at Philia, which had been amplified by her rage. Philia swam away before she could get hit, now going on the evasive, making sure to strike her so as to keep her attention.

Meanwhile, Sora managed to grab a rope hanging off the edge of one of the swirling galleons, and pulled himself up on deck. Keeping himself low and tightly gripping whatever to avoid getting thrown off, he crawled his way towards the wheel of the ship, grabbing the handles, and turning it as hard as he could. The rudder of the ship started to shift, causing it to be guided out of the edge of the vortex, but still using the momentum it was given to flow towards the target: Ursula.

Meanwhile, Ursula resorted to her remaining tentacles to try and seize Philia, eventually entangling her in one of her massive tentacles. "Philia!" Donald, Goofy and Ariel shouted, seeing their friend struggle and gasp as she was being squeezed to death by the tentacle.

"Haha! Who's the pathetic one now?!" Ursula growled, bringing Philia closer to her face, "Anything else you have to say before I crack you like an oyster?!"

When Philia gathered enough breath, she opened one eye, seeing the oncoming ship from behind Ursula, and smiled. "Yeah…watch your back…" she answered weakly.

Ursula looked surprised, and turned in time to see the galleon, guided by Sora, come straight at her, the bowsprit stabbing her through the gut. She cried out in pain, the damage immense enough to weaken her grip on both everyone entangled in her tentacles, and her grip on the trident. Sora flew off the side of the ship, as it started to break apart from the impact.

With everyone freed, Donald, Goofy and Ariel came at Ursula as Philia swam upwards, aiming towards the giant, golden trident. She managed to touch it with both palms. Ursula flailed as she tried to hold onto life, while at the same time, trying to reach out for her trident.

"Time to get what you deserve!" Philia declared, putting all her magic into the trident, "Thunder!" Her spell was amplified by the trident's power, and it created an immense thunderbolt from it, striking down Ursula as she became encased in the lightning's shock. She cried out as her body was encased in black smoke, the damage too much for her to handle. The smoke and static consumed her body until she fully disappeared in it. Everyone watched in amazement as the smoke was there for a moment, and then, when it dissipated, so did Ursula. She was gone.

Philia sighed in relief as the trident shrunk down to what it one was before. She grasped it in both hands, feeling the immense energy from it. She smiled at their victory, though it took a lot out of her from evading and enduring nearly being crushed to death. She closed her eyes, and fell backwards, her grip on the trident weakened as it fell out of her hands.

"Philia!" Donald, Goofy and Sora shouted, the latter reaching her in time to catch her body in his hands, holding her like a princess. Ariel caught the trident, looking worried at her new best friend. For a moment, Philia looked unconscious. However, she was breathing, and she slowly opened her eyes, looking up at Sora.

"Jeez, Philia. Next time, I'll be the decoy." He told her.

"Yeah… That distraction might've been too effective…" she croaked, "But you did look pretty cool guiding that ship in." Sora chuckled as he felt proud at looking 'cool' for Philia.

Suddenly, the trident in Ariel's hands shined, and four things came out of it. Three of them were balls of magic energy, all going into Sora, Philia and Donald's bodies. The tingly feeling told them that their Thunder spells had been upgraded into Thundara.

The fourth thing that came out formed itself into a new dagger. It was golden like one of the curved teeth of the trident, decorated on the outside with seashells, including the hilt. It fell into Philia's hands. "A new dagger…for me?" Philia asked, seeing the weapon.

"It might be the trident's way of sayin' thank you for savin' ya." Goofy stated, with Jiminy popping out from within Goofy's shell to nod in agreement.

"Does it have a name?" Sora asked, looking at the dagger.

Philia pondered for a second, then smiled as she answered, "Triton's Tooth. That's the name I'll give it." She replaced her other golden dagger for it, deciding to use this new weapon for the time being.

"Look!" Goofy shouted, waving a fin off towards the distance. From afar, the team could see lights shining, coming from Ursula's grotto. All of a sudden, merfolk were suddenly coming out of the grotto, no longer polyps. Defeating Ursula released them from her spell. The heroes looked happily at the all-around victory they had. Another villain bit the dust.

Once Philia was recovered, everyone returned to King Triton's palace, returning his trident to him. Once Ariel handed it back, she looked guilty as she started, "Daddy, I'm so sorry."

"Please, don't be angry with her." Sora defended.

"She did what any other brave person would do at that moment." Philia added.

Triton paused for a second, then he wrapped his arm around Ariel, hugging her like a father would do for his daughter. "I'm glad you're okay." He started, "I didn't want you to get hurt, so…I didn't like how you thought. Forgive me." Ariel smiled happily at her father, and nodded in response to this.

Triton turned to the heroes as he added, "As for you, I also want to apologize for being so disrespectful. It's my fault. You followed Ursula because I wouldn't let you follow your heart. And when you found that crystal, I lost my temper and destroyed it."

"Oh, yeah, the crystal!" Goofy realized something, "Why did you destroy it?"

"That crystal held the power to reveal the Keyhole." Triton answered, surprising the team, "The Keyhole is dangerous. I had to keep you away from it at any cost."

"Daddy…" Ariel muttered, realizing he had done what he did before in order to protect anything bad from happening.

"Key bearer, I have one more request: Seal the Keyhole." Triton requested to Sora, "My trident also holds the power to reveal the Keyhole. Will you do it?"

"Of course. That's what we had in mind from the start." Sora answered.

"I don't think we explained ourselves as to why we wanted to find the Keyhole, in the first place, did we?" Philia realized, placing a palm to her face, "If we did that, we might've avoided all these crazy misunderstandings." Donald and Goofy both nodded in agreement.

"Where is the Keyhole, Daddy?" Ariel asked her father.

"You should know better than anyone. It's in your grotto." The answer was kinda surprising to the heroes. Triton rose from his throne, saying, "I shall guide you there. Let us go." He swam in front of the team, and they followed him to Ariel's grotto.

In a short while, they returned to Ariel's grotto, surrounding the wall ornament where the crystal was before. King Triton made his trident glow as it left his hands, floating towards the piece, the teeth of the trident matching perfectly in angle with the decoration. In a second, a new crystal had been formed into the socket once more. As both the crystal and the trident shined, bubbles started to come from the rock in the middle of the room, floating up towards the top of the grotto. Within those bubbles, light took on a rectangular, wall-like form, revealing the Keyhole that they were searching for in its' center, hanging in midair.

"So it really was here." Sora understood, producing his Keyblade. He pointed it at the Keyhole, and with a gathering of lights, Sora shot a beam into the Keyhole, causing a locking sound. The Keyhole and the wall of light vanished in a sparkling of bubbles disappearing for good.

"Thank you." Triton told Sora, "With that, the sea should be able to regain peace."

Ariel paused for a second, then she approached Sora and Philia as she started, "Tell me, Sora, Philia. Your worlds, what're they like?"

"Oh, about that…" Philia started, the realization she knew everything re-sinking in again.

"Sorry for lying to you." Sora apologized.

Ariel shook her head as she answered, "It's okay. Besides…" she swam upwards, towards the top of the grotto, "…if you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too. So many places I want to see. I know I'll get there someday. I will use my own strength to find another door, as long as I don't harm anyone."

Everyone watched her as she was high above them. Donald and Goofy smiled in agreement. Triton sighed as he stated, "I can't change her mind."

"Well, if you find it, do me favor and leave me out of it." Sebastian moaned.

Philia swam up to Ariel as she added, "Well, when you do reach new worlds, a quick word of warning…" She placed a hand on Ariel's shoulder, and gave a wink to her as she finished, "…most girls are a little more modest in how they dress. Better wear something before you go anywhere." Ariel looked a bit confused, but giggled and nodded in agreement.

"Key bearer…" Triton drew Sora's attention, and he saw Triton's expression become serious once again. "A large force that attracts disaster is coming soon." He warned him, "So you must be careful when using the key." Sora gave a determined nod in response to this. He knew of the risks of using the Keyblade, but he had to take them head on in order to stop the Heartless and find Kairi and everyone else.

Once they left the cave, they teleported back onto the Gummi Ship once more. Their bodies and clothing returned to normal, much to Philia's relief. But they were so exhausted physically than ever before, as swimming in that world wore their muscles down a ton. "I can barely move…" Sora moaned as he fell into his chair.

"Well, on the bright side, Ariel did give me this before we left." Philia told him, and she handed him a folded piece of paper and something fell out of it. A silver keychain with a blue seashell for the medallion.

"A Keyblade keychain?" Sora asked, looking at it.

"She called it 'Crabclaw'." Philia explained, "But that's not all. Look at the paper." Sora unfolded the piece of paper, and gasped. It was another one of Ansem's Reports. The third page, to be exact.

"We got another one of Ansem's reports!" Sora exclaimed, sitting upright in the chair.

"Well, read it!" Donald exclaimed, with everyone listening in intently. Sora nodded in response, and begun reading the report:

"The shadows that crawl beneath the castle… Are they the people who lost their hearts, or incarnation of darkness? Or something entirely beyond my imagination?"

"All my knowledge has provided no answer. One thing that I am sure of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart."

"Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples. They are multiplying underground even as I write this report. They still need a name. Those who lack hearts… I will call them the Heartless."

Sora finished reading and looked up at the group, who were concerned. "He really was focused on studying them rather than exterminating them." Philia noticed, "I'm worried that his lack of concern for quelling them might've led to a horrible fate for him."

"It's still too early to tell what really happened to Ansem." Goofy noted.

"But…his lack to containing the Heartless might've led to the darkness encasing Leon's world." Jiminy assumed, "If Maleficent controlled all those Heartless, and who knows how many there were, consuming the world might've been no problem."

"But the last report stated that he was trying to find the answer to stop the world from being consumed in darkness." Sora recalled, "There's still so many questions left unanswered…"

There was a pause, then Donald shook his head. "Standing around will do us no good! Let's go to the next world and seal its' Keyhole, while we find more answers!" The team nodded in agreement to this, and Philia took the piloting seat, guiding the ship back into open space once more.

"I really hope we don't go through another dramatic change like that again…" she muttered, "I mean, I was able to finally get use to having that look, but it was still uncomfortable being that skimpy around you guys."

"Well, you certainly didn't have any problems when Sora caught you before." Goofy chuckled, thinking back to how Sora caught Philia in a princess hold after beating Ursula.

Both Sora and Philia's faces reddened, looking at one another, before averting their gaze. They hadn't realized it, but Goofy was right. In that one moment, even after everything was calm, neither one of them had an issue with the lack of modesty. Neither one wanted to even speak or question why that was the case.

Next time on Sword Art Kingdom: Heart's Origin:

Halloween Town! Controlling the Heartless!