A Serendipitous Key of Hope
Disclaimer: My imaginary lawyers tell me I do not own products owned by Disney, Masahi Kishimoto, anything from Shonen Jump, or Square Enix.
Kenshin: ...
Yusei: What's wrong with you?
Kenshin: I give up. *leaves*
Yusei: Hey, you can't leave!
Keiichi: Ah screw him. We're nearing the halfway point. Anyway, time for us to begin this chapter; we hit Atlantica.
-Omakey-
None
The XX Keyhole: Under The Sea
The Gummi ship rockets through space, moving at a steady pace. Naruto looks out the window as he stuffs down whatever soup Goofy cooked up. "We really need to hit a store soon."
He sees a nearby world not far away. "Hey guys, I think we found a new world."
Donald looks back while piloting, seeing it's full of water. Goofy flips out. "That world's more water than earth! We could drown!"
"That's no problem; we'll just use my magic to fit in," Donald says holding up his scepter.
"Well then, Donald has us covered. Hopefully we get closer to Maleficent this time," says Naruto as he grabs his jacket.
"Hold it Naruto!" Donald jumps in front of him. "While we're here, we're just gonna be looking for clues. Let's try not to get into pointless trouble."
"Pointless? If we didn't do what we did so many people would be hurt."
"It feels like we just got lucky those times," says the duck with annoyance. "We need to find clues to the King!"
"You know, you mentioned that once before; who is this king, and why are you looking for him?"
"King Mickey is the ruler of Disney Castle," Goofy answers. "He left us a message to stick with the Keyblade and its owner and then we'd stop the Heartless! He also said it would help us find him."
That's when it hits him. Naruto realizes the real reason they stuck with him this whole time; to find the king. "Does that mean if anyone had the Keyblade you'd go with that guy?"
"Honestly, yes," Donald remarks. "I don't even know if there are any other keys out there."
"This is the first time I'm hearing this; why didn't you say anything?"
"If we told you, you might think we were using you."
"You kind of are!"
"Now don't be like that." Goofy manages to calm down the situation. "That may have been true at first, but we're all friends now! All for one and one for all, right?"
Naruto remembers the pack they made when they first left Traverse Town. This makes him smile, and realize that that doesn't matter anymore. Because honestly, he does like Goofy and Donald. He then says, "You're right. Let's get going. Donald?"
The duck looks annoyed, before raising his scepter. "Hold still." With a shine of magic, they all transform into half sea creatures and plunge into the world.
Goofy is a sea turtle with a yellow shell, Donald has octopus tentacles for a lower half, and Naruto is a mermaid. Yes, a mermaid. Not a merman. Somehow he's become his Sexy Jutsu style self complete with twin meatball ponytails, a blue fish under and a bikini top of shells.
Once they hit the sea Naruto immediately notices his changes. All he can say is, "Donald, what the hell?!"
"Whoops!" He laughs sheepishly noticing his mistake. "Must have said something extra."
Naruto facepalms, but slowly moves out of place. "Whoa!" He then tries to move his tail to stay stable, but then notices that he's not doing well. "Having problems."
Donald tries to move too along with Goofy, and fails just as bad as Naruto. "Uh oh. We don't know how to swim like this."
Naruto shrugs before practicing his tail movement, while Goofy and Donald test their new forms and appendages. After a few minutes eventually they're able to swim well enough to move with ease. Donald is even able to pick up shells with his tentacles. Something he comments on: "This is just weird."
"Atleast the Heartless haven't shown up. We still haven't practiced fighting." This is Naruto's statement as he summons his Keyblade. His ears pick up something coming their way, where he sees three beings swimming their way; one is a red haired mermaid like himself, the second is a yellow flounder with blue stripes and a red lobster. "I found the locals."
Though as he waves to signal their presence, he is enlightened to their desperate escaping from some black creatures. Three of them are jellyfish looking monsters while the other two resemble sea divers in green armor with harpoons. All have the Heartless emblem. "Crapbaskets!"
"Get on with it Ariel!" shouts the crustacean as he strokes his claws as fast as he can through the sea.
Naruto swims in closer to them, throwing his Keyblade through the water past the bystanders and having it slice through one of the jellyfish Heartless. He then says, "Get to safety! We'll handle them!"
"Who are you?" asks the young mermaid. Naruto simply waves her off, repeating the gist of what he said just earlier. She and her comrades hide, while watching Naruto and his posse.
Naruto dips in through the sea to avoid the harpoons shooting at him. Though compared to earlier he's still tired from training, only managing to barely avoiding a scratch. He swims in closer and slashes, noticing his attack is also notably slower too. The Heartless manages to dip back to avoid major damage, but suffers a crack on its helmet. The crack spreads through the pressure, before it explodes and ends up dying.
The jellyfish ones swarm Goofy and Donald. Donald deflects one swipe and releases a Blizzard spell, shooting a block of ice that travels faster than their moves. Unfortunately as it passes by the water melts it down. The power it has isn't as strong as it should have been the moment it impales the jellyfish. Goofy takes out his shield and bashes into one, before spinning fast enough to hit two more.
'How is Goofy doing so well? Is he just used to this?' Naruto, despite gaining an upper hand against his enemy, worries about his own skills as Goofy isn't as affected by the underwater landscape. "Screw this; Reflect Raid!" Combining magic to his Keyblade, he slices it through one jellyfish Heartless and has the sword split into several illusory forms that take out the others.
With three jellies left, the Sea Neons merge together into one single being. This new Sheltering Zone roams the sea, smacking aside Donald and Naruto. "That's it, Thunder!" Naruto casts Thunder, causing it to back away.
"Fire!" Donald tries Fira, but the attack is doused out by the water. "Rats!"
"Donald, let's combine out magic!" The two come together and hold their weapons forward, forming a powerful Blizzaga blast that freezes over the Heartless. Its body hits the ocean floor, shattering before it could reach the bottom.
The two rest on some rocks, tired from the fight. "This may be a problem."
"Yeah, I'm still not used to being so limited on magic." Donald flaps his tentacles.
"I found a trick to it. I'll show you guys later, but first..." Goofy gestures to the other three coming their way.
Ariel the mermaid speaks first. "Thanks for your help." She then gets closer to Naruto, causing him to slightly turn red. "Hmm..."
"Something wrong?"
"There's something odd about you. Are you from around here?"
"No," he replies. "I guess you can say we're from another ocean."
"Really?" This gives Ariel a heartful smile. "Well, I'm Ariel. This is Flounder!" The fish swims in closer to her to introduce himself.
"Hi there lady," says Flounder while watching Naruto. He cringes at that. "Something wrong?"
"Hold on." Naruto turns to Donald. "Donald, turn me back."
"Fine." Donald raises his staff about to turn him back into a guy, but before he could they see more Heartless swimming their way. "Uh oh."
"Let's get out of here." Ariel leads them away, looking at trident marks on the side of the rock formations. "I know a safe place!"
"Thunder!" Naruto casts Thunder on a Screwdiver, only for its power to course around it intensely. 'Wow, really?' "Alright, let's go!"
The six of them swim as fast as they can through the seas, until reaching an underwater city. "Where is this?" Goofy asks.
"Atlantica! Don't worry, we're almost at my daddy's palace!" Ariel says as they make their progress through the seas. The Heartless continue their chase even as they reach the palace. "Duck!"
"What?" Donald responds.
"No, get down!" Everyone lowers themselves, an a yellow beam shoots out to eradicate them. They all look up at their savior, a merman with white hair and a crown over top his aged head. He wields a golden trident.
"Those annoying vermin… As long as I hold this trident I will not permit those monsters to roam around my palace!" The king merman declares this with a powerful, demanding tone.
"Whoa, who's that?" Naruto asks while pointing at him.
The lobster swims in before him. "Ladies and gentlemen, put your fins to the floor in honor of the ruler of the seas, King Triton!"
"Now now, Sebastian." The king then looks down at Ariel. "Ariel, how many times have I told you not to leave the palace?! Not when those things are around!"
"I'm sorry daddy."
"Daddy?!" Naruto and the others repeat in shock. "He's your father?!"
King Triton then notes them. "And who are these folks? I don't recognize them."
"I'm..." Naruto looks down at himself with a sigh. "Naruko. That's Donald, and he's Goofy."
"Nice to meet you," Donald says, still slightly chuckling at Naruko's predicament.
"That reminds me… What were you guys doing here?" asks Ariel curiously.
Goofy swirls a bit. "That's easy; we came to find some bad guys and the Keyhole."
Triton reacts in shock to his words. As Ariel asks what it is, he quickly shouts, "There's NOTHING like that here! Nothing at all!"
"But daddy, they did save me, Flounder and Sebastian. If they need something like that-"
"Ariel, it's none of your concern." The king shakes his head in disapproval. "Always getting yourself involved in things that have nothing to do with you. First your obsession with the surface world, and now this."
The red haired mermaid princess huffs before swimming away. Naruto and the others follow. With their exit, the king sighs. So much weight can be felt in his breath. He mutters, "Maybe I'm being too protective of her. I just want her to be safe, like any father would."
"Your worry is well placed your Majesty," Sebastian states. "But, this Keyhole… It sounds like you know something about it."
"That, too, is none of your business Sebastian. Anyway, what have you to report?"
"It's not overly obvious, but there's a good chance they're coming from Ursula's grotto like you said."
"I knew it!" Triton slams a fist on his throne's armrest. "I guess banishment hasn't taught her a single thing. Now she's brought the Heartless to do her dirty work and pollute my world."
"Yes, she poses real danger." The king's eyes dart at the now shrinking crustacean.
"And did I not keep you in charge of keeping Ariel from said danger?!"
Sebastian begins to sputter nonsense here and there. "It's not entirely my fault! It feels like they know where we are! It's hard enough keeping her away from that human she's in love with but this is a whole new level!" He then slaps his mouth shut.
But it's too late. The King rises up, shocked. "Ariel's in love with a human?!"
'Oh, me and my big mouth!'
Elsewhere…
Elsa drinks some tea as she looks among the other residents of Traverse Town. "Thank you for taking me in Sakura. So, you come from the same world as Naruto?"
"Most of us here do," she replies. "It's nice to here Naruto's okay, especially after what happened to our world. Now there's nothing for him to go back to."
"That's awful!"
"And what's worse is what happened to Hinata… She hasn't moved or anything since we got her back." Sakura looks over at Hinata, still unresponsive. "Maybe she lost her heart like Naruto warned us."
"Her heart?!" This surprises Elsa, and makes her fearful. "That's terrible."
"If only we could travel to other worlds like him." Kakashi returns as she finishes. "Sensei?"
"Get ready. We're going to meet with Yugi and Anzu."
Back to Action…
Ariel swims by a cavernous area, eyes gazing upward. "Ariel!" Naruto and the others reach her. "You okay?"
"Yes," she replies, her eyes retaining that longing look. "Naruko, you're from another ocean right?"
"That's the story," he replies.
"Have you ever wanted to be a part of something more? Is that why you all traveled here?"
Naruto comes closer to her. "What's wrong?"
"I want to reach the surface world." Ariel states. She goes down to a boulder blocking an opening, and pushes it aside. "Come in!"
Shrugging, they all enter her grotto. Inside they see a vast assortment of 'treasures' that come from the surface level. Naruto notices one is a chest, and sees a statue in her home as well. It's that of a man hoisting his sword skyward. Behind it rests a placement of what looks like a trident.
"Who's this?"
"A man from the surface. This was left after a storm nights ago, where I found a man drowning. I saved him, and..." Ariel keeps quiet, trying to find the right word for this.
Goofy however gets it. "I get it; you wanna meet him in person, but your father doesn't approve!"
"You got that?" Naruto asks, surprised at Goofy's whit.
"You understand right Naruko? One mermaid to another?" Ariel takes his hand and looks at him.
"O-Of course! Let's go meet this guy!"
"But..." Ariel looks out beyond her grotto. "I wanna get something for him. He lost his necklace, and I know where it is but I can't get it. Think you can help?"
"Sure, no problem. Doesn't seem like a big deal."
"Naruko, you're getting involved in other people's business again," Donald remarks.
"Isn't that how we helped Elsa and Alice and stopped the Heartless?" asks Goofy.
"Goofy's right; let's go Ariel!" The two mermaids swim off, leaving the others to wait.
After a while of travel, Naruto and Ariel reach an opening. There a torn apart sunken ship resides. "It's close by." She leads him upward, their shadows passing over a moving figure. They come to a set of rocks, where an orange pendant can be seen wedged between. "There."
"Hmm… Too tight to reach into..." Moving back, Naruto summons his Keyblade and uses Magnet. The pendant inches out slowly before landing on his sword. "Got it."
"What is that anyway?"
"It's a part of me, an extension of my heart that reaches out to save others," he replies, smiling as he hands her the pendant. They drift down into the sea as they do. "Now, go to him. I'm going back to Donald and Goofy so we can find that Keyhole."
"Yeah, what exactly is that?" Naruto opens his mouth to answer, but sees behind her a figure coming in fast. He pulls her away to avoid getting attacked, their enemy this time a shark. "Oh no, a shark! Swim!"
The two swim to escape the violent predator. They enter the sunken ship and avoid his jaws, going through the windows to divide his attention. Ariel looks back, seeing she's dropped the pendant. "Oh no!"
She dives down to grab it, leaving her open to the fish's teeth. "Ariel!" Moving fast, Naruto whacks him in the head with his Keyblade before climbing to the surface. The shark chases him, running on adrenaline-if sharks have them-and anger. Naruto stops short and blocks its teeth with his Keyblade, which pushes him downward crashing into the ship.
"Naruko!"
"I'm okay!" They come up from the ship, Naruto striking its snout with Mahou Rasengan and breaking free. The shark snaps at him three times, each strike blocked with the Keyblade, before being knocked aside by the tail.
Ariel swims in smacking the shark with her tail, before leading it away. She then skillfully leads it through wreckage, where she traps its head in through an anchor hole. Stuck, Ariel smiles confidently before swimming over to Naruto. "You okay Naruko?"
"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Naruto smiles before lifting up, and together they return to Ariel's grotto.
As they do, a figure watches from a magic cauldron. "So, the Keybearer has come to my world now. But, they'll never find the Keyhole. And soon I'll have what I need to fill the world with darkness." The feminine voice speaking laughs.
"Floatsam, Jetsam! Get ready!" Two simultaneous eels rise up in the dark room. "Once she's alone, lure her to me."
Back with our heroes, Naruto and the others gaze upon the pendant. "So you're going to give this to that… Who is he?" Donald asks.
"Eric," says Ariel with a smile. "I just hope he doesn't freak out."
"Freaking out will be the least of your worries," says another voice, this one more thunderous and commanding. They look to the entrance and see King Triton.
Sebastian can be seen hiding on the side cowering in fear. "Daddy, it's not what you think!"
"I consider myself a reasonable man." His face exits the shadows as he approaches her, everyone else moving to the side. "I set certain rules to protect people from making the wrong decisions, and expect them to be followed. And you exposing our world by saving a human's life spits in my face!"
"He would have died!"
"One less human in the world; they're all the same, a bunch of harpoon wielding polluters ruining our world!" His eyes glance over to Naruto and his friends before going over to his daughter hiding behind the statue. "And even worse, falling in love with him? He's a human and you're a mermaid!"
"I don't care."
"Ariel, I AM going to get through to you! And if this is the only way-" His trident glows brightly. "-so be it!" He then fires, destroying some of the artifacts in the grotto. Ariel tearfully tries to stop her father, but he continues, forcing Naruto and the others to leave the grotto for their own safety.
The king turns his eyes to the statue, before he obliterates it and its pieces. The redhead princess cries painfully. Saddened at his daughter's unhappiness, he leaves. Outside King Triton looks towards our world hoppers, his eyes daggers of anger. "I can't believe you would allow Ariel to throw herself into such danger. The surface world is no place for her!"
"I'm sorry King Triton, but she asked us for this favor. But you can't be so restrictive with her." Goofy and Donald cringe at his statement.
"And just who are you to state how I should raise my daughter when you're not even a mermaid?!" bellows the king angrily. His statement however doesn't frighten them, but instead gives them shock when they take in exactly what he says. "That's right; you're not from another ocean. You're a Keybearer from another world!"
"Huh?" Naruto blinks. "You… You knew?"
"Ever since I heard you were looking for the Keyhole. How else would you know something like that? And why else would that octopus be a duck?" He points to Donald. "I'm strangely surprised with your behavior, getting involved in affairs that do not matter to you. That is not how a Keybearer is supposed to act; you must NOT mettle in the affairs of other worlds."
"How do you even know that?"
"The legend of the Keyblade is known to the kings of the ocean. The presence of the key brings ruin and shatters peace!" The king turns around to leave. "When I saw you and realized who you were I planned to cast you out, but knowing you went out of your way to save my daughter made me want to thank you. But if you're only going to cause problems then there is no room in my ocean for you or your key!"
With his exist, Naruto and the others look among eachother. The Keybearer holds up his weapon looking at it questionably. 'The key brings ruin? What does that mean? Is there something about the Keyblade that I don't know about?'
"See Naruko? We can't keep meddling in other people's problems! Now you made Ariel cry!" Donald says, not holding back his anger this time.
"Quit it with the Naruko Donald! She would have still tried to see him even if I didn't decide to help her. That's how girls are." Naruto glares at Donald as he speaks.
"You're just causing problems for other people!"
"If you're not gonna contribute to the solution then what's the point of you being here? Go find another Keybearer and follow him if you want!" Naruto swims away.
Donald fumbles angrily. "Donald, that wasn't nice."
"Goofy, don't start. All he does is jump into other's problems expecting to have all the answers! We don't need someone like him for the king." Donald waddles away. "Come on, Goofy!"
"We can't leave without Naruto!"
"You heard King Triton; there are other Keybearers out there, so we'll find them to help us find the King." Goofy looks back to where Naruto went. Before they could leave, they see a black mist moving its way into the grotto. They follow it inside, and see Ariel conversing with it. It then disappears, and she chases something moving at highspeed out of the grotto.
Goofy watches it, seeing some eels. He then follows after. "They must be connected to the Heartless."
"Goofy, let's go. We can't betray the king!"
"Not on your life, but if we let the Heartless hang around they'll hurt people! The King wouldn't want us sacrificing anyone else to help him." Goofy tells him. "Besides, even if we don't have to stay I'm not gonna betray Naruto either!"
Goofy follows Ariel, with Donald reluctantly giving chase. As they chase Ariel, who's moving faster than them due to being at this longer, Naruto sees them moving. "Where are they going?"
He stations himself for a bit, before going after them.
Ariel moves to the area with the sunken, damaged ship. She then follows the eels to a dark section where she sees weird 'things' covering the surface floor. The area gets darker as well, surrounding a giant sea monster's skeleton. The eels lure her inside, and she follows.
The others move closer, only to come upon Heartless who attack them. "Oh not again."
"Donald! Goofy!" Naruto moves in to assist, putting aside that argument earlier to help.
Inside the corpse Ariel comes before the eel's benefactor, the sea witch Ursula. "Welcome child."
"You're Ursula? I heard you can help." Ariel nervously comes closer. Flounder and Sebastian watch in secret, having tailed Ariel as well.
"Oh I know. You wish to enter the world of the humans and be with someone you love..." Ursula grins secretly while floating around her. "It shouldn't be a problem turning into a human; your friend with the pigtails used to be a human."
"She was?" Ariel looks to the side thinking of Naruko. She then recognizes that she was always a little weird despite being a mermaid. Plus she seem to blush a bit whenever they were close.
"But it was impossible for your friends without that key." Ursula takes up some concoctions. "You don't have that luxury, but I can help you."
"My father wouldn't allow it."
"Well, I guess if it isn't to be it isn't to be. Must not be true love." Ariel's defenses begin to drop.
"How can you help me?" The sea witch grins.
"This is terrible! We gotta tell the king!" Sebastian and Flounder leave, but are stopped by Floatsum and Jetsum.
"It's what I do, help poor unfortunate souls by making deals. I use my magic and give them what they want, and as long as they pay up they'll be fine. For you..." Ursula begins dumping things into her cauldron, which explodes with magic. "I can turn you human. Just a little magic here and there and you can walk the walk. But, it'll cost you your voice."
"My...voice?" Ursula holds up a golden, glowing contract.
"All you need to do is receive a kiss of true love from your beau and you're permanently human. But you gotta do it in three days, or you're back as a mermaid and have to pay the price. Just sign the paper and then I can help you. Until then, my hands are tied."
Ariel looks to the side, reluctant. "Oh well, forget it then. You are after all King Triton's youngest daughter; you're practically guaranteed a happy life. You can live your life listening to your father, at the cost of true love."
"Wait!" Ariel stops her at the last second. "All I have to do is sign?"
"Exactly!" She then goes to her fellow pets, whispering, "I got her! The boss is on a roll!"
Ariel signs the contract, and Ursula immediately takes it. She then throws it one final concoction, chanting a spell. "Now, SING!"
Ariel opens her mouth to sing, just as Naruto, Donald and Goofy come in. "Naruko, you gotta stop her!"
But it's too late; a light from her throat flies into a conch shell Ursula holds. "We have a deal!" A whirlpool surrounds Ariel, turning her from the little mermaid into a homeless-yet still attractive-mute teenager.
"What did you do to her?!" Naruto shouts, summoning his Keyblade.
"Should you really be worried about me? She's not a mermaid anymore remember?" This implication reminds them of the exact reason they look like this, and quickly pull the mute princess to the surface.
Ursula cackles evilly as they leave. "Step A accomplished. Now I just need some distractions for the Keybearer to make sure they can't stop me."
Lighning: This chapter is now over.
Keiichi: You're boring.
Lightning: And you're a child!
Yusei: Shut up! The next time-*gets clobbered*
Lightning&Keiichi: Don't get involved!
Julia: *sighs* Next time, we conclude the Atlantica arc. And we start to learn the truth about someone's actions.