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: Time for another chapter in this fairly long epic. The Atlantica Arc ends at this portion, and we move onto the next one.
Kei: Also, more stuff on Sasuke.
The XXI Keyhole: Wrath of the Sea Witch
In a land of darkness, a lone figure covered in a black cloak with red clouds stumbles across the endless road. Red spots follow this person, created by the growing crimson from the left leg. The sound of growling resounds from the shadows, causing the injured to take to hiding.
Once laid against a rock, the person removes the hood to reveal her bleeding face. "How long has it been since I've been here? It feels like forever since I saw his face."
She flinches sensing a presence, looking up at a Heartless staring down at her.
…
Last time, Naruto, Donald and Goofy reach Atlantis where they befriend Ariel. After an argument with her father she goes to Ursula who gives her a chance at true love; by giving up her voice she would spend three days as a human, and until the last day at sunset she needs to receive a kiss from Eric or else she'll revert back and belong to Ursula. We now return to the story…
Naruto, Donald and Goofy learn the news of the deal from Sebastian and Flounder, seeing as Ariel cannot speak. "So, she needs to kiss Eric out of true love or else she belongs to Ursula… Sounds like Anna."
"Yeah," Goofy says, supporting Donald.
"What do we do?" Flounder asks, really worried about his close friend.
Ariel looks to the side with worry herself. Naruto takes her hand saying, "Just go find Eric. He comes looking for you right? Then just tell him who you-" She points to her throat. "Oh right. Then just write stuff down. Let him know you through actions I guess."
"Hello? Is someone out there?" The seafolk return to the sea, leaving Ariel alone. She sees someone coming her way, and gasps with shock and glee to see Eric. "Oh, you! You're the girl who rescued me right?"
Ariel prepares to speak, before remembering she can't. She then holds up his pendant. "My pendant! Thank you; I thought I lost it."
Out at sea, Naruto and the others watch as they leave. "Oh well. I guess she can only do what she can do."
"What about us?" Sebastian speaks out of fear. "The sea king will have my claws for this!"
"Donald, Goofy and I will look for Ursula," Naruto suggests, despite his anger towards Donald at the moment. "Ariel made this decision because she wanted to live her own life, and if we tell her father he'll just come down on us. Man, this sucks."
"Such language from a lady..." mutters Sebastian.
"Shut up," he snaps.
Flounder then speaks: "The fact is, we can't do anything until we can find Ursula, and her father will only exacerbate things."
"What does that mean?" Goofy asks.
"Let's go. Worse case scenario, I'll have to stop her in the act when she comes for Ariel. I'll put the Keyhole aside for Ariel's sake to stop Ursula."
Donald swims in front of Naruto before he could leave. "We'll put the Keyhole aside."
"We?"
"Clearly you can't do anything by yourself, so we'll help you." Donald's remark angers Naruto, but he agrees only because he's right. "We're already here, so we might as well help her out."
"Then let's get that see witch. You guys just keep an eye out on Ariel." They dive deep down to seek out the old hag in her lair.
The following day, the trio can be seen hiding out near the sea witch's lair. They note a large assortment of Heartless blocking their path, patrolling the area. Donald then says, "Let's go!"
"Not yet," Naruto speaks. "They have the advantage underwater and in numbers."
"Then just summon the Keyblade to use a huge spell on them!" Donald's suggestion, though loud, does not deter Naruto.
"Can't. The moment I pull the Keyblade out they'll come after me. Yensei said the Keyblade releases a beacon that attracts them…"
"Ooh! I know!" Goofy then comes up with an idea. "How about this!" He whispers the idea to Naruto.
"Goofy, that'll only work to draw them away. I'll still be left in danger."
"Not if we're waiting on the sidelines!" Donald adds, and a plan begins to formally brew.
Naruto swims in, before summoning the Keyblade. The Heartless notice him and begin to swarm, forcing the blond to swim away. One such Heartless, an Aquatank, carries some Screwdivers underneath it and moves at a speed he couldn't outrun. Naruto dips around a corner just as he gets cornered, preparing a Blizzaga spell.
"Now!"
"Aerora!" Donald uses a strong wind spell to generate a whirlpool, drawing in the Heartless around Naruto.
In the eye of the whirlpool storm, Naruto spins himself along with the current, freezing the Heartless and slicing through them. Seeing more left, he throws the Keyblade as an Ice Raid, which cuts through the remaining Aquatank that unleashes the remaining Screwdivers. "Now the numbers are down."
"Here we go!" Goofy rises from underneath them bashing into the left Screwdiver with his shield. He then knocks it into the second, while Donald fires Blizzaga to finish them off.
"Wind!" Naruto casts Aero around the Heartless, causing the water to separate. He then rushes in and fires Fira point blank, now usable in the air zone.
"That should do it." The trio make their move towards Ursula's home, now free of protection. They enter, eerily keeping a look out for more Heartless. Though the moment they reach the main world, Donald quacks loudly. "She's not here!"
Like the avian cephalopod said, Ursula is gone. Even her cauldron has moved with her. "She must have moved everything to hide."
"Let's not give up! She's gotta be close by, or atleast watching Ariel!" Goofy's words bring them more confidence.
"Goofy's right; let's go!" The three world travelers make their way across the sea to search for Ursula.
…
After a whole day of searching, Naruto and the gang rise up to the surface to where Sebastian and Flounder are. Nightfall has already taken over. "She's like a freaking magician, gone."
"Still nothing?"
"No. She completely disappeared off the radar," Goofy tells him.
"Hey, there's Ariel!" Flounder points his fin ahead at a boat, where Ariel and Eric are spending a romantic evening.
They remain quiet to give them time to themselves, just as they're about to kiss. The fish wants to get closer, but Goofy holds him back. But just when their lips would touch, the boat is rocked.
"Dang it," Naruto swears-sort of-seeing the moment ruined. "But, it looks like it won't take too long for the kiss."
"Let's give the ocean another look around to before we come back tomorrow," Donald says.
"Right. She'll definitely show up to keep her from kissing him," Goofy adds before they all head off.
Unbeknownst to them, Floatsam and Jetsam are half submerged just near the boat, before highfiving their tails. They sink into the sea, as Ursula watches from her cauldron.
"Good work, my babies!" She promptly gets up, and grabs some potions with a worried expression. "The little tramp's better than I thought; if I want any longer they'll kiss before sunset tomorrow. Time for drastic measures!"
She then dumps her potions inside, casting a spell that thins her body and skin tone.
...
Kakashi and Sakura continue until they reach the building atop the steps of the first district. There they see Yugi with Anzu waiting for them. In his stern tone, Yugi asks, "Did you find the piece?"
Kakashi holds up a Gummi piece. "Can this help us cross over to worlds?"
"It should. Kaiba made the Gummi Ship, so he knows what he's talking about," says Anzu, looking to the side annoyed. "Can't believe he's and Jounouchi isn't."
"Anzu, give Kaiba a chance." Yugi places a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. "He was affected just as much as the rest of us."
"Who is this-" Before they could get an answer, an explosion goes off behind them.
"That came from the base!" The four of them head in the direction of the explosion.
Shortly upon reaching their base of operations, they spot the Guard Armor alongside other Heartless overtop the defeated Shinobi remnants. Walking out from the ruined hideout is a man in a black hood, holding Hinata and Elsa.
"Takes care of that." He looks over seeing Kakashi standing over some of his injured comrades, Temari and Shikamaru. "Oh, sensei. Didn't think you were still alive."
"I know I've seen those fighting styles before..." A Shadow Heartless jump in at him, but Kakashi dodges them with ease and slashes using a lightning charged kunai.
Sakura pauses, feeling something after staring at him. He turns to face her, almost faltering, but then she asks, "What are you doing with Hinata?"
"We've collected seven women, but there was a mistake so only some fit the category. So we're going around again looking for the rest."
"As if!" Sakura rushes in to punch him, only to have an adolescent Shadow throw her away. He then disappears into the darkness.
The Heartless gather around him in the darkness. He passes by them, saying, "Careful there. She's really important to the plan, both of them."
He continues through the darkness until reaching a ship.
"Ah, are those the targets?"
…
The trio rise up from the seas seeing Flounder pulling Ariel across the sea. Donald speaks, "How's it going? Sunset's around the corner."
"We've got a problem! Ursula's cheating!"
"Cheating?!" Goofy questions.
"How long were we away?"
"She's using Ariel's voice to control Eric! They're getting married!"
Perplexed trying to contemplate the situation, Naruto looks forward seeing a ship in the distance. "And they're on that ship?" He grabs the rope and raises his Keyblade. "Time to do what we do best! Aerora!" Naruto sends a blast of air downward, causing a wave to send them towards the ship.
They continue reaching the ship in time, where they spot an outrageous scene taking place. Right now a woman in a wedding dress is being tortured by sea creatures. Heartless then take the scene and attack the animals.
"Ariel, make sure you get near Eric; we'll handle the rest!" Ariel looks at Naruto as he brings them closer to the ship. The former mermaid climbs up, while the Keybearer pulls himself up on the side.
He sees the bride being tormented by the animals, and notes the conch shell. 'That's her!' He aims the Keyblade and fires a beam of light, breaking the shell. Light shoots out and enters Ariel's throat, as well as breaking the clear look in Eric's eyes. She can now speak.
"That voice..." Eric looks over to Ariel with joy. "Ariel, you can talk! It really was you!"
"Eric! I've always wanted to tell you!"
"No!" Ursula reaches out defiantly, only to see that she can't do anything. The two come together and hug, but at that moment the sun sets in the distance. Before their lips could caress one another, Ursula's magic lifts. Said sea witch cackles victoriously.
"Just in time! Yours is finally up mermaid!" Ursula reveals her true form, scaring the others who knew nothing of her origin. The octopus woman crawls towards Ariel, grabbing and dragging the mermaid underwater.
"Ariel!" As Eric calls her name, Naruto and the others dive back down to give chase. The prince eventually takes a boat over to the scene.
Underwater, Ursula holds Ariel by her hair. "Time to pay up, little mermaid."
"Stop!" Naruto and the others make it to her at this moment.
"That's enough out of you fools." She then raises the contract with one of her tentacles. "Triton's daughter signed a contract, so I'm just collecting what belongs to me. You have no say in the matter."
"That contract's no good! You sabotaged her chances just so you'd be sure you get what you want," Naruto replies with anger. "You probably do this with everyone!
"All in the fine print." She laughs and tightens her grip on Ariel. "Maleficent can probably use her in her plan, IF she turns out to be a Princess."
"Maleficent?!"
"That's enough!" shouts another voice. A beam hits the contract and knocks Ursula into rocks. King Triton floats there, his eyes focused on the sea witch. Sebastian by his side. "You'll not have your way today Ursula."
The witch reveals herself to be perfectly fine, while holding the contract unscathed. "Now now. We can't have the great and mighty Triton go around breaking whatever contract he pleases. Now that just won't do." She then scowls glaring at the others. "And that goes for the rest of you. Now begone; I have business to attend to with this mermaid."
With a snap of her fingers, Ariel begins changing for the worse. The others remain powerless to help her, while Triton shouts, "No! Wait! You win Ursula."
This grasps her attention. "Oh? But we had a deal. UNLESS, you want to change that."
"I'll take her place; that's what you really want, isn't it?" Ursula holds up the contract, as if agreeing with him. He aims his trident and fires, rewriting his name over hers.
"Your majesty!" Sebastian freaks out seeing that.
"King Triton!"
With that, Triton transforms in place of his daughter. Ursula laughs, a triumphant, cackling laugh that only gets louder as it progresses. Everyone could only watch in horror as the king of the seas has become nothing more than a shriveled up urchin. With Triton in his state, she salvages his crown and trident. "At last! It's mine! I'm now the queen of the seas!"
"Congratulations; here's your crown!" Naruto raises his Keyblade as the others take out their weapons.
"Please. I have the Trident! I have the Heartless on my side! The Keyblade might as well be useless!" Ursula prepares to fire at them, but gets pierced by a harpoon. She glares upward in anger at her attacker, seeing Eric.
"Eric!" Ariel calls out.
A Sheltering Zone appears from nowhere and attacks Naruto and his buddies. Floatsam and Jetsam comes forth beside Ursula. "Get him!" The eels swim up and attack Eric without warning.
Donald fires a Blizzara spell and attacks the jellyfish, causing it to freeze over. "Blizzaga!" Naruto enhances it with a more powerful version, utterly destroying it. "Two magic spells do better underwater than alone."
With Eric wrapped up, Ursula takes aim with the trident. "Say goodbye to your little dreamboat." She fires, but at that moment Ariel pulls her head back causing the beam to aim at Donald.
"Donald!" Naruto casts Reflect on him, bouncing the beam away. While the duck looks on in shock and amazement, Flounder and Sebastian free Eric from the eels just in time for him to escape the beam's path. It instead fries Floatsam and Jetsam, turning them to dust.
It's safe to say, Ursula is devastated. "NO! MY BABIES!" She caresses the remains of what used to be her darling little ones, leaving Ariel time to pull Eric to the surface before he drowns.
Although, the overweight queen of the ocean at this moment inks an incredulous amount. So much is squeezed from her rage that it spreads, covering everyone's vision. Sebastian and Flounder cower in fear at her growing anger, and size.
Up on the surface, storm clouds have gathered and laid thunder and lightning upon the seas. Eric surfaces with Ariel.
"Eric, you have to get out of here!"
"No! I'm not leaving without you!" he responds, the waters begin to tremble.
Up from the sea rises a golden crown the size of a barge. It separates them, though that's the least of their worries when they see who is wearing it. It is Ursula, enlarged and evil. She wields the trident and laughs, her sharpened fangs glistening in her dark smile and laugh. Her eyes watch as Ariel and Eric dive down into the waters, heavy rain fall accompanied.
"You pitiful, pathetic, insignificant fools! You cannot defeat me in my own domain!" She flips her tentacle, sending a wave that plummets Eric deeper into the ocean. "The waves obey my every command! The sea, the weather, and all its spoils BOW TO MY POWER!"
Naruto and the others rise up in time to face her, just as she dips her weapon into the water. She then parts the seas creating a whirlpool. "Donald! Goofy! Try to make a plan while I fend her off!"
"What?!"
"The Keyblade should stand up to the trident regardless! I trust you guys can do this!" Naruto adjusts the bra and swims towards Ursula.
"Please! As if a child has the power to stand against me!" She raises the trident and calls down lightning to attack him. He uses Reflect to protect himself, going in closer to use Strike Raid on her face.
"Insolent little urchin!" She sends a beam at him, but he counters by using the Keyblade's beam back.
The whirlpool draws up the sunken ship down below, with Eric grabbing the loose ropes. Donald and Goofy accompany him. "You okay Eric?"
"Yeah." He looks to the bowpoint before going to the wheel. He then notices that Ursula has blasted a rock that Ariel was on, trapping her in the whirlpool area void of water. "Can you guys help me out? I have a plan."
While this is going on, Naruto swims over to Ariel noticing the sea witch has turned her attention to the mermaid. He shoots up and blocks her beam using the Keyblade to save Ariel. "Ariel, move!"
With a howl, Ursula unleashes a stream of lightning from her mouth down at them larger than any beam he's tried to block. With no other option he uses Reflect on himself to block; as it continues to hit him, the glass barrier shatters away leaving him to take the full force of the hit. Naruto falls backwards into eye of the whirlpool, getting hit by additional lightning bolts on his way down.
"Naruko!" Ariel goes to Naruto, who has fallen unconscious while smoking. Donald and Goofy see this, calling out his name in shock.
"Even the Keyblade is no match for me!" Ursula cackles evilly, ignorant to the broken ship moving its way towards her. A crazed look in her eyes, she raises the trident-lightning cracks in the background-speaks, "Too bad for you ya little tramp; true love is just a child's dream!"
The despair in her eyes force her to cover over Naruto to protect him. "I'm sorry, Eric! Naruko!"
"Blizzard!" Donald casts Blizzard on the bowpoint, sharpening it. The ship turns in accordance with Eric before it reaches Ursula.
The octopus woman sees it too late, and gets impaled through the heart by the ice point. Her fatal screams are accompanied by a dark smog leaking from underneath her. Her own lightning electrifies her as well, as she sinks with the ship. Literally.
The ink bubbles away as her remains sink into the ocean. "She… she's gone..." The weather changes she's made disappear with her demise, including the whirlpool. Naruto awakens shortly after getting hit by water, breathing in and out hastily.
The victims of Ursula's contracts revert to normal, including the recently transformed King Triton. "Your Majesty!" Sebastian grabs the trident and with help from Flounder brings it over.
"Naruto!" Donald and Goofy go over and hug Naruto, glad that he's safe and alive.
"Donald… Goofy..." Naruto smiles back, returning the warm hug they're giving him.
Donald looks over to Naruto, saying, "Naruto, I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
"You were right; we shouldn't care about whether or not we're meddling. It's these little things that get us closer to our goal," he replies.
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I was kind of rude to you about it," Naruto adds. The two then shake hands; without them noticing, an aura of energy appears onto Donald before transferring to him.
"Yeah! All for one and one for all huh?!" Goofy says with a smile before hugging them.
Up on the surface, Eric swims over to Ariel. "It's okay Ariel. She's gone. We can finally..." He then notices something strange with her body behavior. "Ariel?"
The red head dives underwater, before jumping over him to reveal her mermaid appearance. Once she hits the water and resurfaces, she says, "You see Eric, this is why I went to Ursula."
He's relatively shocked. "I would have told you sooner, but I couldn't."
"To think..." He cups his chin thinking, looking rather disappointed.
"I'm sorry Eric. Goodbye."
"To think we had all that time together, and I didn't work on my swimming," he finishes, giving her a tremendous surprise. He jumps ship and swims to her. "Well, it's never too late to learn right?"
The others resurface in time to see the events unfold. Even her father. As she says, "I'd love to," and they caress one another, that is the answer they've come to for where to go from here.
The world traveling trio smile and cheer at Ariel's success, while King Triton sighs. "What a conclusion..."
Ariel and Eric look over to see the king approaching them, while Naruto waits on the side. "Daddy, I'm sorry I caused all this."
"Ariel, you don't have to apologize. I'm the one who drove you into the strings of Ursula. All because I wouldn't let you follow your heart..." He looks away ashamed. "I want you to know, I only did everything to now because I love you."
"Daddy." Ariel swims over to hug her father.
The fellows smile and nod in approval with everything that's happened just now. Triton then turns to Naruto. "Keybearer, it's my turn to apologize to you. I accused you of being a destroyer, when all you did was protect my daughter and support her dream. I can't ask for your forgiveness, but I do wish you could seal the Keyhole."
"The Keyhole? Where is it?" With everything going on he completely forgot about it.
"It's in Ariel's grotto. My trident has the power to reveal it." He hands the three pronged spear to Ariel. "Will you do me this last favor?"
"That's what we were going to do from the start," he replies. "I know it's important, but I couldn't just ask Ariel or you to tell me where it is without helping with your problem. Helping others should come before asking for help."
"Well said." With a smile, Triton dives down while Eric climbs above his boat.
"Ariel, will you be back?"
"Of course. This will only take a minute." With that, the heroes dive down and swim towards her grotto.
Inside her special place, she raises the trident. It glows brightly, causing a crystal placement on the stone walls to shine. The Keyhole reveals itself shortly after. Naruto then summons his Keyblade, and without haste locks it. "Phew. That was pretty rough."
"Naruto, Donald, Goofy, thank you for all your help. None of this could have happened without you three," Ariel says, giving her heartfelt thanks to them.
"Ariel, I'm sorry." Naruto undoes his pigtails. "The truth is, I'm actually a guy. Donald accidentally turned me into a girl when he did the spell to make us like this. Also, we lied when we said we were from another ocean."
"It's okay. I'm not mad; actually, I'm glad to know that." She smiles brightly. "Knowing that you can live both worlds means there's hope for me and Eric too. Plus, if you hadn't shown up we would have never come together. All because you meddled in something you didn't need to, I'll always be grateful to you."
A light forms in her hands. "What's this?" Ariel holds up a keychain, recognizing it looks like the one from Naruto's Keyblade. In her other hand appears a green block piece. "A keychain and a block?"
"A keychain!" Goofy shouts.
"That's a Gummi Block!" Donald says as he looks at it. "But how did it get here?"
"I guess the world is thanking you for your help," says Triton. "Take it. Your journey isn't done, is it?"
Naruto graciously accepts the ideas. "There are still Keyholes to lock up, and I still have to find the Princesses of Light to stop Maleficent. Ursula was working for her, so we're definitely getting closer."
With that, the three give their farewells before leaving to the Gummi Ship. On board the lego spaceship, all three heroes return to their original shape. Goofy then says, "That sure was a close one. Good thing we worked together."
"Yeah. We need to work on our teamwork a little more," says Naruto while brushing his long hair back. He then realizes he shouldn't have that, and sees that he's still a girl. "DONALD!"
Elsewhere…
Footsteps approach Sasuke as he stares out at the horizon, brooding. "Hold it there boy!"
"What is it Hook?"
"That's Captain Hook to you!" The person speaking is a big nosed pirate captain with a metal hook for a left hand. "This is MY vessel, and I don't partake to scallywags who do whatever they please on it! Why are you on my ship!?"
"Maleficent said we're short two maidens, so there's a chance it could be either or even both," he tells him.
"Even the lass who lost her heart?"
"I don't think it's that easy, that because Hinata lost her heart that it's gone for good OR that her missing heart disqualifies her," is his response before he removes his hood. On the left side of his face black veins can be seen rising for his left eye. "Besides, I need her around to settle the score with Naruto."
Kei: I hope you enjoyed this month's placement of chapters. Also, I'm sorry Lightning.
Lightning: I'm sorry too.
Kei: What?
Lightning: Nothing! Next time we hit Traverse Town, and begin the second half of this story.