CHAPTER XLIII

TAKEOFF AND LANDING

As Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Cloud, Cid and Riku gathered in the hangar to meet Mickey, they noticed something strange about the gummi ships – the Barrett seemed a bit bigger, with an extra weapon on the left side of the ship and a much larger cockpit. The Fenrir 2, on the other hand, looked like it was reduced to a three-man fighter with minimal weaponry.

"Had Chip 'n Dale work on the gummi ships during the meeting…the little one is a modification of the Fenrir 2…I call it the Fenretto. I used most of the parts from the Fenretto to augment the Barrett – it now has room for six, seven passengers if you really push it. You're gonna need to keep the Legion guessing where Riku is for now…so we needed to give you a little extra room on board," Cid said.

King Mickey stepped up past Cid and shook Sora's hand. "Good luck. We've already set the autopilot on the Barrett to take you to your next destination – it's the last known location of the Wind Butterfly artifact. We can only hope that the Legion hasn't gotten to the artifacts already…" Mickey walked over to Riku, who was wrapping his arms in white tape to cover the bandages. "And Riku…I know this is going to sound stupid…but try to stay out of trouble, okay? You can't summon your keyblade near any Legion Knights…remember that…" he said, slipping a small keychain to Riku as he walked away.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and Riku all jumped aboard the Barrett and waved good bye to Cloud and Cid.

"Bye Cloud…try not to get in any trouble…" Kairi said, smiling.

"How could I ever dream of that?" Cloud said, as Cid smacked him in the back of the head. The Barrett took off, flying via the autopilot toward their next destination.

As they watched Disney Castle become a tiny speck through the glassine windows, they kept their eyes out for the Nexus Machine…but they were lucky enough not to see it on this particular occasion.

Riku examined the keychain in the sleeping quarters of the Barrett…it had a strange crown insignia on it, much like the crown that Sora wore around his necklace…it was trimmed in gold and had a small picture of Mickey's head in the center. As he clipped it on his keyblade, the Way to the Dawn was replaced by the Dawn of Kings…a long, silver blade that swooped into a jagged crown shaped set of teeth. The handle was black with gold trim…Riku swung it around playfully as he thoroughly enjoyed the gift from Mickey.

"Guys, we're about to land…" Sora's voice said over the ship's intercom. Riku gathered himself up and met Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and little Eddy on the bridge of the Barrett.

"So where are we?" Riku said, peering through the ships viewscreen. They started to descend on a world with a large tree in the center of it. The tree was surrounded by tall grass and grains, forming a large, green island in the center of a dried out riverbed. The dusty riverbed was cracked from one side to the other…it certainly didn't look pleasant.

As they got closer to the world, they began to feel strange…as if they were going through some strange force field…it made them all shiver, but they paid no mind as they concentrated on the world's strange surface. As they disembarked the ship, they noticed that the blades of grass looked more like trees…the tree that they had seen from above was absolutely massive, now…Sora turned to ask Kairi a question, but he was shocked to see a dainty-looking bumblebee where she had been standing.

"Whoa…guess this place is like the Pridelands, huh Goofy?" Sora said, looked over at Goofy and Donald. Goofy had been transformed into a lanky type of stick-bug, with brown skin that made him look a bit like a twig. He had four spindly arms sticking out of his midsection. Donald had been turned in a tiny ladybug with a red shell, though his face still had a beak, making him look quite odd indeed. Sora had changed into a light blue ant, while Riku was nearly red. Riku's antennae were longer than Sora's, which stood out at odd angles from his head.

"What happened to us?" Kairi said, more interested than shocked.

"Don't worry…it only lasts while we're in this world. We get turned into fish when we visit Ariel under the sea…so we must be in some kind of bug-village. Pretty fitting…" said Sora, remembering that they were here to claim the Wind Butterfly before the Legion had the chance.