Act 3

Chapter 1

"It's the OCEEEEAAAAN!" Sora and Yuna yelled excitedly as they ran towards the water.

They had awoken early that morning, and with Cloud leading the way, found the exit to the forest. To their surprise the ocean was right at their feet, but where it led and how long it stretched they didn't know.

"Oooh, it's cold!" Yuna proclaimed as she walked around in the water, her bright cheetah fur becoming wet.

"Feeling the sand between my toes is great!" Sora laughed, kicking up dirt with his feet.

"Sora, you like the ocean, don't you?" Yuna asked.

"Of course I do and I could tell you do too."

Yuna smiled and nodded. "I grew up on a small island back home, surrounded by the sea. Everyday people would go swimming and playing a game called Blitz Ball."

"Wow, really? Sounds like fun!"

"And what about you, Sora?"

"I grew up on a small island too! My friends and I would sword fight all the time with wooden swords." Sora made a few swinging motions and Yuna laughed.

"That sounds like someone I know would do," she said

Sora looked at her curiously. "Who?"

"Ah, never mind."

In the shades of the forest sat Cloud and Squall, both watching and observing Yuna and Sora.

"It's boring," Squall said, yawning. "Shouldn't we be looking for the herb that is suppose to be here?"

"I don't know how it looks, even with Yuna's description," Cloud answered, seemingly content with just lying in the shade. "We'll wait for Yuna."

"We don't have time to play around."

"Sora deserves a break too."

Squall sighed. "He's not my business. If he hates anything I do, he'll have to deal with it."

Cloud was silent, then asked. "So you'd betray him if you wanted to?"

"No, that's different."

"It's not."

"Betraying Sora and making my own decisions are not the same."

"But if your decisions are unfavorable to Sora, that is the same as betraying him."

Squall was becoming irritated, and turned to face Cloud. Though as a lion he was considerably larger than Cloud, Cloud's panther shaped body was poised and ready as they faced each other.

"I don't need you telling me about betrayal and trust. I know enough."

"Then I suppose you're an expert."

Squall growled and Cloud roared in return, but at that moment Yuna yelled, "Hey, guys! I found the herb!"

She and Sora ran towards the two, their eyes wide with excitement.

"With this, we should be able to turn into our human forms." Yuna said, placing the herbs on the ground.

"It smells weird…" Sora covered his nose with his paw.

"Whatever," Squall was the first to take a bite, followed by Cloud, Yuna, the Sora. After a moment of chewing, they each swallowed and looked around at each other.

"Nothing's happening," Squall said, rolling his eyes.

"Hmm, that's strange…" Yuna thought.

"I do feel a little… lighter though…" Sora said.

Then a bright light engulfed them. They each felt the limbs of their bodies being stretched or twisted as if they were undergoing a form of torture. Then the light was gone, and they suddenly felt extremely dry and thirsty, and out of breath. Neither of them were able to focus correctly, their vision was blurry and they nearly kept falling unconscious, but they saw and felt a white figure pushing them with its tail into the water, and before long they were able to breathe. The white object jumped into the water to join them, and when their conscious returned they saw a seal staring at them.

"Are you three alright?" It asked.

"Cloud?" Sora asked, dumbfounded. "Why are you a seal?"

"You should take a look at yourselves," Cloud said.

The three turned to look at one another. Squall had turned into a tiger shark, Sora had become a dolphin, and Yuna was a small seahorse.

"We-we're sea animals!" Sora exclaimed, paddling around them.

"Still animals…" Squall said, depressed.

"Heh heh, oops," Yuna laughed halfheartedly. "I must have mixed up the herbs…"

"That doesn't matter now," Cloud interrupted. "Are you three okay?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I think," Sora said, trying to stay afloat. "But how come you weren't out of breath?"

"Sora, Cloud's a seal. He doesn't have gill—he has lungs." Yuna informed him. Sora rubbed his head, embarrassed.

"Now what'll we do?" Squall asked.

"We can't return to land in these forms," Cloud said. "We'll have to search for a cure underwater. Or at least, were the ocean takes us."

Yuna blew bubbles from her small mouth. "I'm sure that the cure for turning back into a human is found deep in the ocean, only in the darkest areas without sunlight."

Squall wasn't convinced. "And we can trust you because…?"

She smiled. "Because we're friends."

Squall sighed. "Let's go, then."

They dove deep into the ocean, leaving the forest far behind them. Because Yuna was so small, she rode on Cloud's back most of the way, but it was mainly to protect her from predators, since even the ocean wasn't safe. But they were such a strange group, that most of the sea creatures stayed away from them, but they could feel their eyes on them.

Eventually they swam so far below, it was impossible to see, and none of them were animals that were adapted to the darkness.

"I don't think we'll be able to go further," Squall said. "It's too dark and it'll be too dangerous for us to try and defend ourselves from whatever's down there."

"I agree. We should look elsewhere." Cloud said, and was ready to turn to the surface, but Yuna stopped him.

"I think I see something…" she squinted with her tiny sea horse eyes. "It looks like its… glowing."

The others searched the darkness with her, squinting their eyes.

"Wait, I see it too," Sora said, and pointed with a flipper. "It's there!"

They swam towards it simultaneously. Quick, and fast. All around them they could feel the presence of fish that dwelled in the darkness for hundreds of year, but they ignored them and continued to swim downward. The light appeared to glow brighter and brighter as they drew near, until it was within their reaches. They had reached what looked like an old roman city, built completely underwater. The inhabitants were sea creatures of all kinds, some that weren't even recognizable.

"What is this place?" Cloud wondered.

"I don't know, but it's huge," Sora said, in awe.

Squall was the only one who remained cautious. "Be careful, we might not be wanted here."

"No, wait… I know this place," Yuna, who was holding onto Cloud the entire time, swam away from him and approached the edge of the city. "This is Atlantis."