OH...MY...GOD! I am SO sorry that I took so damn long to get this chapter posted! So much was going on these few months, and I got distracted by my other works as well!

But goddamn, Atlantica was a major pain in the ass to write down! I wonder if anyone knows that feeling when writing their stories...

Anyways, with all that melodrama, I'm just going to get some things out of the way: first, if there's anyone among my readers who loves Ariel, please don't be too hard on Medea's criticism. I might be a bit crazy, but there are some aspects of Ariel that have glaring issues with her character. Second, if anything in this chapter feels rushed, I apologize in advance. When I realized I took too damn long to finish I had to coach my head into getting it done these past few days. Lastly, it was freaking HARD to describe the environment of this world! I couldn't put in too much details since, to me, there isn't too much too see in Atlantica, so sorry about that.

Now that that's out of the way, hope you enjoy this (FINALLY!) available chapter!

As usual, constructive reviews are welcome.

I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.

Read, leave me a review, but no flames.

Chapter 12: Atlantica

"Do ya feel better after that fall you had, Luna?"

"Yes, I feel a lot better, thank you. It hurt quite a lot, but I'm glad I got help when the pain returned."

As they waited for any news on their next destination along the way, Luna's pain from the fall she had previously returned to her and, since nobody wanted her to remain crippled throughout the rest of their journey, Donald and Sora helped her out with a Cura spell and an elixir to help reduce her pain until she was given proper treatment. Needless to say, Medea got a little upset that Luna didn't think about it right away, but was appreciative that her master got help when she needed it most.

"Honestly, you gotta be a lot more careful with yourself, Luna," Medea scolded her, "Compared to your spiky friend here, you're practically fragile."

"C'mon, Medea do you have to be so hard on her? It's not like she was prepared for a fall," Sora complained.

"Look, I'm not trying to bash her actions and choices, but Luna's gotta take care not to be so reckless with herself," Medea insisted strongly, "I know she can't help wanting to aid anyone who is in trouble and all that, but that's no excuse for being careless."

"For once, I'm gonna agree on that," Donald couldn't help agreeing on that.

Not wanting an argument to stir up, Luna changed the subject. "Do you have any idea where we are heading right now, guys?"

"Yup. I think we're heading to a place called…uh…Atalanta? Atlantis?" Goofy struggled to recall the name.

"It's called Atlantica, Goofy," Donald corrected.

Medea raised a brow on that. "Altantica? Why does that sound like something watery?"

True to Donald's words, the new world they found looked an entrance from a cavern leading into a beautiful kingdom nestled securely in an underwater setting; old bones of sea creatures and shipwrecks from ages past can also be seen making a stark contrast to the glistening palace from a distance.

"Oh, my…what a lovely scene," Luna said with fascination, "I never thought a sea kingdom would exist…"

"Okay, guys, prepare for landing," Donald said as he prepared to make a landing.

Sora got a little worried about this. "Land where? In the sea? We'll drown!"

"Not with my magic, we won't," the duck replied in reassurance, "Just leave it to me."

The moment they made a landing in the underwater world, they didn't see what happened to themselves until they had made a dive into the sea; within mere moments, a magic spell formed about them and everyone became different sea creatures befitting the new environment.

Luna found herself to be a mermaid with a dark blue fish body from the waist down, with light purple translucent fins and a long lavender tail; though her long-black gloves remained the same, her corset had changed into a fuller one to cover her chest with crossed straps holding the moonstone brooch and her veiled hat became a veiled blue tiara set with pearls.

On Medea's part, most of her body was changed to that of a purple-colored stingray save for her dark claws that became part of her form (possibly permanently until they leave this world); other than that, she was pretty much her usual self.

Sora, in a similar fashion to Luna, became a merman with a lighter blue fish body from the waist down (and shirtless, might I add); Donald had octopus tentacles from the waist down while Goofy had most of his body become that of a turtle.

While such a transformation was certainly a marvel for the eyes, the one thing most of the party quickly developed trouble with is the fact that they aren't really accustomed to maintaining mobility while completely underwater. In fact, Luna and Sora had trouble figuring out how they were supposed to be moving around while Donald kept hanging upside down while trying to keep steady; Goofy and Medea, though, were able to quickly figure out how to work with their fishy bodies since they had the most transformation done on themselves.

But then, three individuals showed up, apparently swimming away hurriedly to avoid something that might be chasing them. One was a young woman with bright red hair who obviously is a genuine mermaid since she had only seashells across her chest, another was a yellow-and-blue fish and the last was a red crab.

"Come on, Sebastian!" the woman called out.

"Ariel, wait! Slow down!" the crab panicked, "Don't leave me behind!"

But then, upon seeing Luna and Sora and the others, the crab immediately panicked in fright as he swam back to hide behind the woman he called Ariel.

"Relax, Sebastian," Ariel laughed, "They don't look like one of them. Aren't they, Flounder?"

"I don't know. There's something weird about them," Flounder replied, unsure of what to make of things.

Sora chuckled nervously as he struggled to stay upright. "What do you mean?"

"You do seem…a little different," Ariel said as she examined them curiously, "Where are you from?"

"We're kinda from very far away," Sora answered lamely.

"And, unfortunately, we're not used to these waters," Luna added, which was partially true.

"There's no way she's gonna buy that…" Medea muttered behind their backs.

Shockingly, Ariel bought all of that. "Oh, I see. In that case…Sebastian can show you how we swim around here."

The Shadow Guardian was dumbfounded at this. "She actually bought that? What size of a brain does she have?"

Luna hung her head at that comment. "Medea…"

But Sebastian didn't like the mermaid's idea one bit. "Ariel! King Triton won't like this!"

"Oh, don't worry," Ariel shrugged it off.

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

With the talking crab's instructions, the rest of the party was able to understand how to be able to move around in the area without any stability problems. Of course, Luna simply followed what Sora and Ariel were doing while Donald had to learn how to make use of the octopus tentacles in order to navigate the waters. Goofy and Medea simply watched as they adapted at their own pace.

"Good job. Now let's move on to self-defense," Sebastian commended them.

"Sebastian!" Ariel cried out.

Everyone turned to find that Ariel was pointing towards a small group of jellyfish-shaped Heartless coming towards them. Immediately, Flounder and Sebastian began to swim off in an attempt to find a place to hide.

"Class is over. Good luck!" the crab panicked.

Knowing that they had to act quickly, the party immediately got to work on taking down the creatures before things got out of hand. Granted, it was a little weird battling while underwater, but with enough experimentation on how best to approach the battlefield, it was possible to deal with the threat until the coast was clear. Luna herself actually had to find a way to work around conjuring the Shadow Hands as she moves around in water.

Once all of the fiends were gone, though, their new acquaintances came out to see that the coast was clear for the moment (no pun intended).

"What was that about?" Luna wondered.

"Those creatures chased us here," Ariel admitted.

That got Sebastian in a panic. "Oh, no! Those monsters might be heading for the palace, too!"

"Well, that doesn't sound good…" Medea muttered.

Surprisingly, Ariel got a little worried. "We'd better head back right away!"

"But wh-what if we run into more on our way back?" Flounder asked worriedly.

In Luna's mind, that was a rather good question that not a lot of people would ever ask about, considering their lack of experience with the monsters that come their way compared to her and her friends. So, logically speaking, it would be in their best interest to help them through the place just in case more Heartless show up and try to intercept them.

"Maybe…there's something we could do to help for the moment?" Luna asked.

"Maybe there is," Ariel agreed, "Please, come with us to the palace."

Sora nodded in agreement. "Sure! We'll gladly help."

Following the lead of Ariel and her friends, the rest of the party joined them through their journey in the water toward the palace that they had seen from afar before landing in this world; whenever it was necessary, Sora and Luna would move up front to keep the Heartless from trying to charge at them while Medea had their companions keep an eye out from behind them, if only to make sure that nothing tries to perform a cheap shot at them. Of course, given the new environment they're in right now, there was reason to worry about the possibility of…other troublesome creatures…to get in the way besides the Heartless.

By the time they had reached the palace, though, the Heartless proved to be rather persistent to the point where they seemed hell-bent on hunting down their targets and the interlopers getting in their way. The party was about to turn around and fight them off again – that is, until a blast of some kind of magical energy shot out past them and eliminated every Heartless that dared to try and get close.

"That was too close. As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace."

From what was noticed, Ariel certainly knew the voice and swam past them, making the others turn around to see a merman seated upon a throne within the very core of the palace. As far as Luna could see, given the crown on his head and the trident in his hands, she had reason to believe that they are in the presence of a powerful king – one that they might want to be careful about for good reason.

"Daddy!" Ariel said, happy to see him.

"Oh, Ariel! Why won't you listen?" the sea king groaned in disappointment, causing the princess to grimace. "It's dangerous out there! Strange creatures lurk outside."

Yep. That was a sure sign that the Heartless were doing something within this world, and even the king himself is not favoring their presence in the slightest.

Sebastian took liberties to initiate formalities. "Behold. You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton."

King Triton noticed the new arrivals and asked, "And who are they?"

"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel answered.

The king had his doubts. "They don't look familiar."

"We're from an ocean very far away," Sora lied again.

"Yup. We came to find the Keyhole," Goofy added, accidentally spilling the beans.

Medea didn't take that too well and got angry. "Goofy, why the hell did you have to say that out loud to them?!"

"The what?"

"What's that?" Ariel asked out of curiosity.

The Shadow Guardian groaned irritably at this. "Urgh, we just get here, and you just had to blurt out about that –"

"There's no such thing. Certainly not here," Triton interrupted.

"But, Daddy…" Ariel protested.

But the sea king was adamant. "Ariel, not another word! You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear?"

Unfortunately, Ariel's angry look on her face showed that she couldn't take it anymore, and she immediately swam out of the throne room in frustration; Sora and the others afterwards quickly followed after her to make sure she's okay after that confrontation they had earlier with the sea king. Luna was about to catch up with everyone so she wouldn't miss anything with Medea right behind her, but…

"Wait a moment, young lady."

At that command, Luna suddenly stopped and turned to face King Triton, wondering what required her attention; but then the suspicious look in his eyes warned her that he's trying to find out more about her. Maybe he did notice something as they were entering the palace?

"Tell me: you're a Shadow Mage, aren't you?" the king asked her.

Luna hesitated a moment, but answered truthfully. "Yes…I am. Why do you ask? Have you seen a Shadow Mage?"

While Sebastian was looking back and forth in confusion as to what Luna was saying, Medea was watching cautiously behind her – mostly to make sure that nothing violent will come out of this unusual confrontation between them.

"I thought there was something odd…" Triton shook his head. "If you are as you claim to be, then you've seen other practitioners before, haven't you?"

Luna shook her head, indicating no knowledge. "No, I haven't, your Majesty. I think…I'm the only Shadow Mage wandering around."

With nothing else to go on, Luna took the opportunity to leave the throne room and catch up with everyone else with Medea following close behind her. But as they were, though, she did look enough long enough to notice the king showing a sad look on his face as though he wasn't sure what went wrong earlier; she didn't catch what was being spoken about, however. But she didn't want to worry about it until later, as she had other matters to be concerned of: that being finding the Keyhole before the Heartless – or whoever is causing trouble – ever come close to doing that. Still, did mentioning a Keyhole indicate that the king might have more awareness of the dangers in Atlantica than he's willing to let on?

"What the hell was that old man thinking, prying into your background?" Medea suddenly questioned suspiciously, "I'm getting the impression that he's a lot savvier about us than we think, and he probably wants to know what we're up to in this world."

"Maybe King Triton has had his share of experience with other people outside this world entering the place," Luna speculated, "Perhaps he has an idea of what Shadow Mages are because he's met a few some time ago, and I never knew about that. Grandpa Eraqus certainly didn't mention anything about other people like me…"

Medea shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? But for now, I'd say we should wait on getting anything out of him unless he does something that crosses the line."

"Good idea," Luna agreed.

By the time Luna and Medea had finally caught up with the rest of the party, it was quickly noticed that Ariel was rather frustrated at what went on while they were at the palace and Sora and the others were trying to figure out what to do from there until Luna and Medea joined up with them, making them notice that their compadres weren't following behind them a few moments ago.

"Where were you, Luna? We didn't see you following us," Donald asked first.

"Sorry for making you wait, everyone," Luna apologized, "It's that…well, the king wanted to ask me something a moment, that's all."

Sora got curious for a moment. "About what?"

"Trust us; it'd be best to wait on that. The redhead over there seems to be in a bit of a teenage rebellious mood," Medea dissuaded him from prying deeper, hinting at Ariel's disposition.

Now that the whole party has been gathered together, that leaves only the matter of where to go from there; granted, King Triton didn't seemed too welcoming to them at the start, but even with what he had been saying, they still had a job to do and they can't leave until the job is finished. But the question is: where do they start looking?

"I wonder where we could find the source of the problem," Luna wondered. "The sea is a vast place, I'm sure."

Sora definitely puzzled over that. "That's a good question. I have no clue."

That's when Ariel proposed an idea. "I have an idea: come to my grotto. I want to show you something."

With the mermaid princess leading the way yet again, they swam to a small cavern with a boulder blocking what looked like the entrance; all it took was a push to move it enough for all of them to slip right through and into a wide grotto with a hole peeking out towards the surface of the ocean and surrounded by all sorts of treasures that might as well have been collected from any sunken ship, considering the antiquity of some of the items that found themselves at the bottom of the sea. It was quite a wonder as to how Ariel was able to do any treasure hunting and get away with it so easily…

"Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected," the princess said, gesturing to the whole area, "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?"

"Not really…" Luna answered vaguely.

"Not at all. I used to feel the same way," Sora admitted.

Ariel got confused for a moment. "Used to?"

Sora caught himself quickly. "I mean…I still do."

Although Luna didn't want to admit to openly herself, it did remind of how curious she was about other world and what they are like as a child; she certainly knew the feeling of being sheltered from something that sounded strange yet wonderful. Though, it also reminded her of the upsides and downsides of the places she did visit when she was able to.

"Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole you were talking about?" Ariel had to ask.

That raised a few alarm bells in everyone's minds.

"But your father said –" Sora was about to protest.

"Oh, he treats me like a little girl. He never wants to let me do anything," Ariel interrupted, bitter at her father's words. "He just…He just doesn't understand."

Medea frowned at what she was saying. "Honestly, I do not like how you're acting regarding someone from your own family. Besides, you look like someone who could easily listen to the words of a sleazy dealer or something along that line and not think about the consequences thoroughly until it is way too late."

"Medea, do you always have to criticize everybody that you meet?" Donald questioned.

"Actually, I'm worried about that myself," Luna admitted, "Shouldn't we think this through?"

"See? Luna's got a degree of common sense on her part," Medea pointed out.

"What other options do we have? If we don't find the Keyhole soon, we'll have even more problems than we already have," Sora had to insist, given where they are now.

Although reluctant to get the princess involved in matters that she doesn't clearly understand (and adding in the possibility that someone – or something – might try to interfere with their work like several other villains have tried to do in their previous encounters), Luna and Medea had to agree that they had to find what they're looking for quickly before any more trouble happens to them and the world they're in. Though, both ladies would've liked it a lot better if the sea king wasn't so uptight about the matter (even though it was unintentionally spilled out) and had a way to help them in their investigation without being too judgmental on them right from the start.

Still, with Ariel's knowledge of the vast ocean landscape, she led them through the rocks to a sunken ship nestled in a valley of sand and sea flora. At first glance, it was rather scenic, what with the mossy greens that have gathered on the already rotting wood and how much the ship itself has broken apart from most likely years of being trapped underwater and whatever damaged the vessel before it sunk down to the bottom.

"What're we gonna find in there?" Goofy asked out of curiosity.

"I'm sure we'll find something useful, whatever it may be," Ariel answered, not giving a possible answer.

"Let's just hope we don't find any sharks," Flounder worried.

That got Luna nervous immediately. "Sharks…? There are sharks out here?"

"Dammit. And I thought it was bad enough with the Heartless," Medea groaned in chagrin. "We'll also have creatures of the sea going against us."

But what are they gonna do?

By the time all of them had started to enter the cabin of the sunken ship, though, Luna couldn't help getting the nagging feeling that something was stalking them somewhere within the area…like that of a dangerous predator. But then, when nobody had expected it, a crashing sound occurred at the window – and it was quickly realized that the cause of the wreckage was none other than a ferocious shark! It scared everyone into moving away from the window, but – fortunately for them, the shark couldn't get any further in due to the rather space in contrast to its chunky body; with that, the vicious sea animal was forced into retreat empty-finned for the time being.

However, because of the wreckage the shark had caused, one of the treasure chests was smashed open enough to reveal a peculiar artifact hidden within: it was a crystal shaped like that of the prongs of the sea king's trident minus the staff.

"What's that?" Donald wondered.

Sora took out the crystal trident and examined it. "Hm…Its shape reminds me of something."

Luna got confused a moment. "What do you mean, Sora?"

"You didn't notice back in the grotto? There was a slot that looked like a trident," he explained to her, "almost like a variation of a lock that needed the right key to whatever is past it."

"That never crossed my mind," Medea commented.

After leaving the ship with the artifact, nobody had seen the shark after it made its appearance at the window of the sunken ship; but no one was willing to pay any mind since it was assumed that the beast just decided to give up on chasing some potentially tasty morsels to sink its teeth into anyway.

Thankfully, with the shark not around to bother them, it was much easier for them to head back to the grotto and investigate what the crystal trident was supposed to do. Sora carefully placed the crystal into the slot like it was fragile object, and it seemed like there was some form of reaction going on. But just as he had placed it into the slot for use, there was one wrench in the works that they didn't figure as soon as they had returned…

"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again!"

Not exactly liking the sound of the familiar voice, everyone turned around to find King Triton – and he was not very pleased at what he had found at all!

"I've told you not to leave the palace!" Triton warned angrily.

Just when someone could at least explain to him what they were doing, the sea king immediately noticed the crystal trident in the slot and – against the desperate pleas from Ariel – used his trident's power to shatter the crystal into many, thousands of irreparable pieces before their very eyes. Sora, Donald and Goofy were horrified at what they just saw right in front of them while Luna and Medea recoiled from shock at what Triton did in mere moments with no remorse for his actions.

Ariel looked at the now empty slot in revulsion before turning to her father bitterly. "How could you…"

Not wanting anything more to do with him, she hastily swam out of the grotto without another word to her father or to the rest of the party forced to face the king personally.

Triton turned to Sora and Luna with a hard look. "Young man, young lady, you're not from another ocean. You're both from another world. Aren't you?"

Sora jolted from shock at the fact that they had been caught red-handed, while Luna hung her head sadly and Medea rolled her eyes as though she weren't surprised that someone would have a keen eye on the matter.

"Then you must be the key bearer," King Triton turned to Luna next. "And you undoubtedly are a Shadow Mage."

"So he does know about what I am…" Luna feared.

"How did you know?" Sora demanded to know.

"You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail," King Triton answered, "As the key bearer and a Shadow Mage, you both must already know one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds."

"Of course I know that, but…" Sora was about to answer.

"You have violated this principle. The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin," the sea king interrupted harshly, "and the Shadow Mage is a danger to anyone who would cross their path, regardless of the Mage's intentions."

That irked Medea quite a bit. "Now that's crossing the line, old man! What would you know about Luna?! It was bad enough when her gramps decided to have Luna kept in some kind of sleep to keep her hidden further away from any stalkers she'd gotten, but we don't need you saying that she's a threat to anyone when anyone else can be a threat against her!"

"C'mon, Sora and Luna aren't like that," Goofy added.

But the sea king would not yield. "I thank you for saving my daughter. But there is no room in my ocean for you or your key and shadows."

With that, King Triton left the grotto to return to the palace, leaving the rest of the group to sort out what just happened and what to do from there.

"What's the sea king's problem? We were just trying to help," Donald grumbled.

"Gawrsh, maybe we should've been more honest about ourselves," Goofy wondered in contemplation.

Sora looked at his keyblade, rather hurt at the sea king's words. "Who does he think he is? We've been trying to save what worlds we can find so that the Heartless can do no more harm. And yet he thinks we're making trouble out here? It's not like we're trying to cause any trouble to anyone."

"If you ask my opinion, that old man's got his head in the wrong place. He should know that there's some hell with the Heartless in his domain, and he can't fend them off for long," Medea scoffed bitterly. "One way or another, he'll have to ask our help to deal with whatever drawing those black pests into this place, or else someone's gonna give him even more hell than this watery world's going through."

But Luna had other thoughts on her mind: she had trouble enough comprehending why King Triton would say that the both of them were endangering Atlantica, but there was something else that bothered her. Did the sea king have some experience with Shadow Mages to question her on a subject she had too few knowledge about for years? If so, then how does he know about what she is? There was only one way she could get an idea about what information he might have…

"I should talk with King Triton," Luna suddenly spoke out of the blue.

Sora abruptly turned to her in confusion. "What do you mean, Luna? Why do you want to speak with him, after what happened a moment ago?"

"The reason I was held up earlier was because he wanted to ask me something. He suspected I was a Shadow Mage, and asked me if I knew of any other people like myself," Luna replied, "I told him I didn't know…but I think he knew all along that I was a Shadow Mage, but perhaps he didn't trust me because he wasn't sure whether I would mean any harm to his kingdom or not." She paused. "That's why I want to talk to him. Maybe he's met other people like me, and he didn't want to tell Ariel. Sora, can we please go to the palace and see him? I can try and explain everything to him while I ask him about whatever he knows."

Now, Sora would've been the type of person to question Luna for her rather odd ideas, but the instant he noticed the uncannily serious look on her face, he knew that there was no point in arguing with her. In fact, he figured that it would be a good opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding and convince him to help them find who's using the Heartless here.

"Okay, Luna, we'll do it your way this time," Sora agreed, "Let's head to the palace now and speak with him."

"I'm with the kid on that one. Besides, I've got a thing or two to say to the old man," Medea seconded that.

"Yeah! We're trying to fix the problems here," Donald said, "What more problems could come our way now?"

Unfortunately, by the time the party had arrived at the palace, yet another problem just happened right before their eyes: at the throne room, a fat woman with the body of an octopus was spotted alongside two ugly eels with the trident in her hands and used it to cripple the sea king while Ariel gasped in horror at what happened and hurried over to her father.

The octopus woman cackled in glee. "The trident is mine at last! And I couldn't have done it without your help, my dear."

"Ursula, no! I didn't want this!" Ariel protested.

"Why not? Aren't you tired of following your dear daddy's orders?" Ursula replied with no care, "Oh, yes. We had a deal, didn't we? Time for a little journey – to the dark world of the Heartless!"

"We cannot find the keyhole," one of the eels reported.

"The keyhole is not here," the other eel added.

"What?!" Ursula got frustrated at the report. But then she turned to spot Sora and Luna and their comrades near the entrance to the throne room. "Why, we have company. I'm afraid you're a little late, little ones!"

Before they could catch her, Ursula used her powers to disappear from the throne room in a puff of black smoke along with her eel minions. After seeing what had happened, it became pretty clear who the real threat in Atlantica really was.

"Damn it! I would've been real happy to make that fat tentacle freak into calamari dinner in a second," Medea growled angrily.

"Calm down, Medea. You'll get a chance, don't worry," Sora promised, knowing what she's thinking.

Luna hurried over to make sure the king is alright. "Your Majesty, are you okay?"

Triton shook his head slowly. "The trident…We must get it back."

It was easy to figure out what he meant by that: with the magic trident in Ursula's possession, there's no knowing how much more danger Atlantica will be in, and there's no doubt the Heartless will go out of control and ruin the oceanic world.

"C'mon, let's go!" Sora said as he led the way out.

But then Ariel quickly got in front. "Wait, I'm going with you! My father is hurt, and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!"

"Fine, we'll help ya clean up this mess you made. But you'd better not make any stupid mistakes after that," Medea reluctantly agreed, "because I've got enough trouble handling Luna."

"That's right. I'm right behind you, Ariel!" Sebastian called as he emerged from his hiding place.

Medea narrowed her eyes with skepticism. "Really? It makes me wonder if you had some part in Ariel's dumb decisions…"

"Not now, Medea! We've got to find that witch!" Donald interjected impatiently.

As much as Luna didn't want to leave King Triton like this, she knew that there was still work to be done and something must be done about the cruel witch who caused all this pain and suffering from the start. Just as she started to leave with the others, the sea king had a word of wisdom to give before they went in pursuit.

"Listen…Ursula draws power from her cauldron," Triton told her, "To defeat Ursula, you must strike the cauldron with magic."

Luna nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, Triton. You just stay here, and try to be strong. We'll stop Ursula before she does any more harm to this kingdom, don't worry."

Of course, finding Ursula's lair was easier said than done; after all, with such wide terrain, how would they be able to locate a possible route to where she had been hiding herself for however long she has been away from the serene kingdom. For that matter, where could they go to reach her lair and get the jump on her? Hanging around the sunken ship, the party thought over what the possible option Ursula would've taken if she needed to get back to her home, if it could be called that.

"Now, if I were a fat octopus, where would I go to return to my secret lair without the use of magic or something?" Medea questioned.

"If anything, she would've had a particular shortcut that only she would know about," Luna speculated, "or she would've had more than one path, maybe…one or two paths that do lead to her place with other trails to throw her enemies off the scent."

"Let's look around the sunken ship. There might be something there that could give us a clue as to where her lair is," Ariel suggested.

"That'd be the best thing to do at this point," Sora agreed, "There's no knowing what we might be able to find if we're lucky enough to not run into –"

"A shark!" Sebastian's sudden panicked cry sounded off.

In an instant, everyone got a serious panic when the giant shark that harassed them during their previous exploration of the sunken ship was now charging right at them, hell-bent on pursuing its meal at all costs. Sora smacked it back with his keyblade; but while it did trip the shark for a few seconds, it only made the carnivorous creature all the more angry as it rushed right past him and aimed straight towards Luna and Ariel! Luckily, Goofy was able to get in front just in time for the shark to chomp down on his hard shell instead – only for all of its teeth to shatter into many pieces with little to no effort. In defeat, the shark retreated, its pride completely broken and in humiliation at the embarrassing screw-up.

Luna couldn't help hugging Goofy for what he did. "Thanks, Goofy. I was afraid one of us would be unplanned dinner."

"It's a good thing I'm a turtle, huh, Luna?" Goofy chuckled jovially.

Shortly after the chaos had calmed down, Flounder emerged from inside the ship and met up with the group; it could safely be assumed that he must've been stuck there because of the shark.

"Is the sh-shark gone…?" Flounder asked shyly.

At least Ariel was relieved to see one of her friends was alright. "The shark is gone now. We're all okay now."

"What were you doing out here?" Sora had to ask.

"I…I saw Ursula passing by here, along with her eels Flotsam and Jetsam. They went through a b-boulder just below where we are," Flounder replied, "Maybe…her lair is just past that cave. I didn't get to look because…well…you know…"

That certainly explained it a lot. But at least they now knew where to go from there, since they didn't have to look too far for the very boulder mentioned to them.

"You'd better look out, pudgy slimeball! We're comin' after you!" Medea shouted, fueled for battle.

"We'd better not waste any time, then," Luna agreed as she started swimming down along with their friends.

Ursula's lair was a lot more unsettling than Sora and Luna had ever thought. Just ahead of them are skeletal remains of a gigantic sea creature long since dead with several holes bubbling with a hot substances, all the while letting out colored smoke that made the entire environment more like something out of a gothic novel than a fairy tale sea kingdom. But further inside the frightening domain, it's quickly noticed that along the floor of the lair were miserable-looking little creatures with big, sad eyes and heads against skinny necks with no body anywhere in sight. It appalled Luna to see those poor things looking up with so much pain in their eyes.

"Oh, no…Were those things…?" Luna faltered in her questions.

"They must've been people of Atlantica, turned into those things by Ursula," Sora guessed, hating what he was seeing. "Let's get going."

Needless to say, when they arrived in the heart of the lair, Ursula was there along with the magic cauldron King Triton was talking about and her slimy eel minions stalking around the room menacingly. But the instant she saw them form her perch, the sea witch got rather upset that she had been tracked down to her only sanctuary in the otherwise brighter world beyond the borders of the ocean.

"Come out! You can't run!" Donald shouted.

"Your time has come!" Sebastian added.

One death glare from Ursula made the crab and the fish flee for safety, knowing that they can't fight her. But everyone else got ready to take the battle directly to the one person nobody wants roaming around Atlantica any longer.

"Luna, can you and Donald take care of the cauldron?" Sora asked her, "The rest of us will keep them off your back until can do something about it."

"That's what I was thinking," Luna replied, "Donald and I can take turns with magic spells until we know what will happen to the cauldron."

Medea couldn't help smirking at the chance of laying a beat down. "Now this will be a really fun fight! That fat octopus is gonna have a hard time escaping my urge to butcher her."

As annoying as the battle was against Ursula and her cronies, it was at least coordinated just enough so that there wasn't too many hiccups in their tactics (the only thing that was very annoying was the eels that kept trying to pester them every step of the way); once Luna and Donald had fired off just enough Fire or Thunder spells into the cauldron, an explosion of magical energy burst out within the entire area and paralyzed the witch and her pets just long enough for the rest of the party to get rid of the eels quickly and bring on some punishment on Ursula herself before she came to her senses.

By the time she did recover, though, Ursula was horrified that her two most precious pets had been terminated for good. This caused her to growl furiously with a growing desire for revenge on the opposition.

"You'll pay for this!" she vowed in rage as she escaped through the hole where her perch is.

"Hell, no! You're not getting away that easy!" Medea shouted as she gave pursuit.

"She still has the trident. Let's follow her," Ariel agreed on that.

"Hurry, everyone!" Sora called as he took the lead once more.

Their chase of the sea witch led them to a wide open space somewhere in the middle of the ocean; whether it was a route to the ocean floor or not is debatable, but the villainess was top priority since she was getting ready to use the trident as part of her intent for revenge after what had happened back in her lair.

"You pathetic fools! I rule the seas now!" Ursula boasted. Then, with a flash of the trident's power, countless fumes of black smoke formed around the bottom floor as the sea witch's normal proportions continued to grow until she was practically the size of a giant (and it didn't really help that her tentacles were lashing around the entire area). "The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!"

At first, the party had a serious problem with confronting her due to the nature of the situation at hand; not only were there magic spells being bombarded at them, but her tentacles made a lot more effort to capture them and try to crush them.

"Do something!" Sora cried out as he struggled to get out.

"I can't! I'm stuck!" Donald shouted.

"Well, you're the one who's an octopus just like her!" Sora retorted.

However, there was one little thing that even the sea witch didn't anticipate in her efforts to get rid of them: despite getting caught by one of the tentacles, Medea quickly figured out that she's a stingray, so… With just one stab of the barbed tail, the Shadow Guardian was able to successfully sting Ursula just enough to break herself free and use her claws afterwards to slice her pals out of their captivity, freeing them to do what they were supposed to do from the start of the battle.

"C'mon, you guys! Let's make that witch into sushi already!" Medea called as she rushed ahead.

"Yup! Right behind you," Goofy agreed as he followed her.

"I'll keep the witch from using her magic," Luna said as she started to move to higher ground, "Sora, you and Ariel get at her from behind while our other friends prevent her from sabotaging us."

"You got it!" Sora called as he charged right ahead.

"Wait for me!" Donald hurried to help out directly.

With Medea and Goofy using their maneuverability to trip up Ursula from below, it was much easier for Luna to summon her Shadow Hands and use them defensively against the bombarding bolts while Sora, Donald, and Ariel made a flank against the sea witch from everywhere but directly to her face. Because of their ability to gang up on her and destroy the benefit of her size, it didn't take long for Ursula to lose the trident as she vanished into the abyss of thunder and black smoke and then disappeared in a flash of light, thus ridding the ocean of an unwanted usurper for a good long while.

Ariel seized the opportunity to retrieve the trident, and then everyone made their way back to the palace to help one more person – and in the meantime, put an end to the Heartless invasion of Atlantica for good.

With the trident returned to its rightful owner, King Triton was able to recover from the attack he went through at the sea witch's hands, certainly looking better than ever. And better yet, his relieved daughter embraced her father, very happy to see him well again after the almost fatal mistake she made.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry," she apologized remorsefully.

"Please, don't be angry at her," Sora implored, not wanting Ariel to be hurt again.

"I'm sure you both understand the rift between you two had hurt both of you," Luna added, "and could've led to even worse."

King Triton understood what wrongs had been done. "It's my fault. You followed Ursula because I wouldn't let you follow your heart. When you found that crystal, I lost my temper and destroyed it."

Goofy remembered about it quickly. "Oh, yeah, the crystal! Why did you destroy it?"

"That crystal held the power to reveal the keyhole," the sea king answered, "The Keyhole is dangerous. I had to keep you away from it at all costs."

"Daddy…" Ariel's tone indicated that she realized how serious the situation was before.

"I guess that explains why he didn't want someone like his own daughter finding it," Medea speculated, "If that octopus found out where the damn thing actually was, Atlantica would've been toast a whole lot sooner."

"Then, does this mean you'll let us help us, your Majesty?" Luna asked.

Triton nodded. "I have one more request: Seal the keyhole. My trident has the power to reveal the Keyhole. Will you do it?"

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

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

"You should know better than anyone," her father replied, a knowing look seen on his face. "It's in your grotto."

That made a lot of sense: why else was there a trident symbol embedded on the rock of the grotto? Why else would King Triton be so bent on preventing it from being found previously, given the threat of the Heartless in the sea? He must've had an awareness of what the situation, but he didn't want the wrong people to find the very thing that could determine the fate of the sea kingdom. At least they now know that they can finish their job without any more hassle or interference from someone who was way too protective.

"Really… Sora, let's go," Goofy suggested.

"Yep. Let's wrap this up and get ready to go," Sora agreed.

At the grotto, Ariel allowed the trident to release a light powerful enough to cause bubbles to flutter around the whole room of the grotto until the Keyhole formed in the midst of what almost looked like a delicately crafted glass frame held in front of the collected treasures behind it. Just like the last few times it had been done, Sora used his keyblade to lock the Keyhole to stop the Heartless from coming back to threaten the sea kingdom; and like before, Luna used her shadow powers to inspect the area to make sure the traces of the corruptive darkness were gone.

"I don't sense it here anymore," Luna said as she finished inspecting, "This place will not be severely threatened anytime soon."

The mermaid princess swam over to Sora and Luna and asked them, "Tell me, Sora, Luna. Your world, what's it like?"

That was when Sora remembered their lie. "Oh, about that… Sorry for lying to you."

Ariel shook her head with a smile. "It's okay. Besides, if you can travel to other world, maybe I can, too. So many places I want to see…I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way, somehow. I'm sure of it."

Down below, Sebastian shook his head in worry. "Well, if you find it, do me a favor and leave me out of it."

Medea rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, and the next thing you know you'll have the urge to follow her and make sure she doesn't do anything reckless to the point of endangering herself. Admit it, you'd chase after her anyway."

Sora and Luna couldn't help shaking their heads at Medea's response to Sebastian's paranoid comment, knowing that what she was saying did have some element of truth; though, where Luna stood, she knew that her Guardian was merely speaking from her experience of looking after her young master (Luna herself, naturally).

"Some things will never change."

Both teens turned from their friends to find King Triton just outside the tunnel, apparently having arrived to see that the Keyhole had been locked. It was clear that he was relieved to know that the kingdom will not be threatened anymore, especially by Ursula, no less.

But it was also noticed that there was something else on his mind; and Luna had an idea on what it might be: it had to do with what happened in their previous encounters with him, and what misunderstandings had not been resolved yet.

"Your Majesty, may I ask something?" Luna decided to ask a question, "Why did you want to know if I knew any other Shadow Mages? Did you meet some before?"

Sora turned to Luna in confusion. "So that's why you were held up the first time?"

She nodded.

"I wasn't sure whether you were trustworthy, given your heritage as a Shadow Mage, and I suppose it didn't help with the presence of the Heartless," the sea king admitted, his regret apparent. "But I'll confess that I should've known better after my first encounter with the previous visitor years before. The only other one I knew was a woman who used similar powers to your own, but she wanted to help rather than harm anyone. In a way, she was as selfless yet headstrong as you are."

That made some sense on Luna's part; if someone strange from another world came with the intent of helping others, there is the possibility of distrust or curiosity depending on the individuals who meet them. Perhaps that explained why King Triton didn't trust Sora, or her for that matter. But now that he knew they meant well every step of the way, it was much easier to soften the sea king's suspicions and earn his trust. But then she couldn't help wondering who it was he met previously; if this person he knew was another Shadow Mage, then who could it have been? She'll have to wait on that thought for a while, for there was no way she could answer that question on her own at this point.

But while Luna was pondering what information was acquired, King Triton approached Sora with a word of warning.

"Young man, you'd best keep a close eye on your friend," he warned, "She may be powerful, but she seems rather fragile. Should anything break her heart, she will need all the support and protection you can give her. Travel with caution."

Now it was Sora's turn to mentally question what the sea king meant by his words; although he wasn't sure what he was talking about, there was no doubt that he was being told to continue looking after Luna and protecting her since she's one of the few island friends he still has after the nightmare they went through. But why would she experience heartbreak? Didn't she already suffer enough ever since having to overcome her mental illness?