T: Hey everyone, I'm back with chapter 27 for you! So I hope you enjoy it!
Half an hour had passed since the surviving members of the Ulysses had escaped from the mighty Leviathan; everyone had been busy unloading the escape sub of whatever they had managed to get on it. These included mainly supplies, several trucks and the driller truck had managed to get loaded on before the Leviathan had ambushed them. The Turks, in particular Reno and Rude, were baffled as to how the escape sub could hold these vehicles and the remaining crew members.
At the moment everyone had gathered round near the shore where the escape sub and sub pod had docked, they had gathered to pay their respect to the fallen members of the Ulysses who fell in the battle against the Leviathan. Sweet came to the front holding a small bowl in his hands with a candle in the middle of it. He knelt down and placed the bowl onto the water and gave it a slight push, the bowl floated away on the water's surface.
Rourke took his hat off and gave a sad sigh.
"Several hours ago we started this journey with 200 of the finest men and women I've ever known..." He paused before looking at the surviving members.
"We're all that's left now. I won't sugar coat this people, we have a crisis on our hands. But we've always come through in the end, paddle or no paddle...And I see no reason to change that policy now." As Rourke spoke the remaining crew member's spirits slightly lifted hearing their commander speak.
"From here on in, everyone pulls double duty. Everyone drives, everyone works!" Rourke said turning around and facing the crew members before turning his gaze to Milo.
"Now, all our hopes rest with you Mr Thatch...you and that little book." Milo felt a small shiver go down his spine as everyone looked at him with hope, all except for one.
"We're all going to die!" Mrs Packard said throwing her cigarette away.
"Ok then people saddle up! Lieutenant I wanted this convoy moving five minutes ago!" Rourke and Helga began shouting out orders to the crew members.
One by one the trucks were started and drivers began getting the vehicles ready for departure, Mole had taken the opportunity to hop into the driller truck, seeing as how he was probably the most experienced using it. Rourke was watching all the crew members getting ready when a loud noise echoed throughout the place.
BEEP!!
Rourke turned around with a startled look on his face as he saw Milo standing near one of the trucks. Milo had a silly grin on his face as he honked the horn again; this earned him numerous chuckles from Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald and Goofy while the others just shook their heads at him. Rourke on the other hand had a look of disbelief on his face before walking over to the vehicle.
Milo was busy with making a small tune with the horn before a hand came clasping over the horn's end and yanked it off with ease. He looked up and saw Rourke holding the horn with a stern look.
"Are you checked up on this class of vehicle?" Rourke asked pointing to the truck.
Milo raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Huh?"
"...Can you drive a truck?" Rourke replied still pointing to the vehicle.
"Pfft! Of course I can drive a truck!" Milo said in a cocky tone and with a facial expression to match as he got into the drivers seat.
"It's easy! First you have the steering, the brakes, and the gas and of course this metal..." Milo looked at the long bit of metal that turned out to be the gear stick.
"Uh...looking...thing?" Milo had a look of complete confusion on his face.
This got worried looks from Sora and the others while Rourke simply raised his eyebrows at him with a stern look.
"Ok, ok. So it was a bumper car ride at the fair! But it has the same basic principle." Rourke sighed loudly before walking off.
"Alright guys, hop in!" Milo said to Sora and the others.
Riku nudged Sora slightly with a worried look on his face.
"Please tell me we are not getting in that thing with HIM as the driver?" Riku whispered in Sora's ear.
"Either that or ride with him in that death trap." Sora said pointing to Vinny's truck which was loaded full with explosives.
"I think some of us might have to. There's room in here for about six of us." Goofy said checking the space in the truck with Donald. The group fell silent before the Turks spoke up.
"You guys go in the truck with Milo, we'll go with Vinny." Tseng said earning a loud cry of panic from the rest of the Turks.
"WHAT!!!?"
"Mmm, ok if you guys don't mind." Kairi said looking at the amount of dynamite crammed into one box.
"OF COURSE WE-" Elena was cut off by Tseng's hand on her mouth.
"As Turks we shall swallow our fears and brave the death trap vehicle! Come minions!!" Tseng said walking over to the truck with confidence.
"But we're not-" Reno was about to protest before Tseng pulled a pistol out of his jacket and aimed it at Reno.
"I said come minions!!" He gave the rest of the Turks an evil glare saying 'Come or die!'.
Sora and the others watched as the Turks walked over to the vehicle, hoping they would be able to get a lift.
"Oh hey guys! Need a lift?" Vinny said looking at the approaching Turks.
"Yes we do but instead of riding with you I think we shall simply COMMANDEER YOUR VEHICLE!!!" Tseng leapt at the door of the truck and pulled Vinny out of the truck.
The Turks then began beating the poor man up senseless, Reno and Rude were punching him in numerous places, and Choco was happy enough jumping up and down on his head while Tseng shot Vinny several times with his pistol in quick succession. Looks of merriment on their faces could be seen all the way from where Sora and the others stared in shock at the spectacle before them; Elena on the other hand was busy recording the whole thing.
After the Turks had beaten and shot up Vinny, they quickly hopped into the vehicle. Tseng was in the driver's seat; Elena sat next to him while Reno, Rude and Choco hopped onto the back of the truck and began laughing like maniacs as the truck drove off into the tunnel ahead, leaving the rest of the crew members behind. Before they vanished Choco threw one of the crates filled with dynamite out into another truck that was luckily empty at the time. This resulted in a loud explosion and destruction of said vehicle.
As the Turks drove away, their happy laughter could be heard for a few minutes before silence greeted them.
"...Remind me WHY exactly we brought them with us?" Sora said looking at Kairi and Riku.
"Um, because they helped us get to Disney Castle?" Kairi asked with a worried grin.
Riku shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? It'll probably be a mystery among many." Riku said earning nods from both Sora and Kairi.
"If you lot are done can we try and get a move on!?" Rourke yelled from his car.
As our heroes were getting ready for their long journey to Atlantis, little did they know that they were being watched from afar.
Meanwhile on The World That Never Was...
Maleficent was in the castles library reading documents and books that the Organization had obtained and written about light, darkness and nothingness. Maleficent had become quite intrigued about these books ever since she had found the hidden library, the books covered many things such as travelling between worlds via the dark corridors without any effect on the user's heart and many more.
One book however caught her interest above all, it was a book from a long time past, it described many lost spells and secret arts that were thought to be lost, but there was one article in the book that really got her attention. It described four pieces of an ancient artefact that were the key to unlocking some great secret. Maleficent was intrigued by this greatly, but unfortunately for her, the book did not contain anything else on these four pieces.
As Maleficent began reading on one of the ancient spells, the library doors opened and Pete came walking in with a grin on his face.
"There you are Maleficent! I've been looking for you all over the place!" Pete said with an exhausted breath.
"Why do you bother me Pete? I am busy reading about a lost powerful spell!" Maleficent asked without looking away from the book.
"It's about that mission you gave me." At Pete's words, Maleficent developed a smile.
"Have you succeeded?" She had now turned her attention to her faithful minion.
Pete gave a happy nod and whistled to the library doors, a few seconds later two Defender Heartless came in holding a large circular item covered in a cloth. They came into the library and placed the object on the wall before leaving their masters.
At seeing the object Maleficent stood out of her chair and walked over to the object before her, a wicked smile on her face.
"Well done my dear! This shall make things easier." Maleficent ran her hand along the side of the object.
"Um, how's that?" Pete asked looking confused. Maleficent chuckled at this.
"Tell me Pete, have you ever heard of a 'Magic Mirror' before?" She said looking at him.
"Magic Mirrors? In stories yes, but I never thought they would be real." This earned another chuckle out of Maleficent.
"Well let me assure you..." She grabbed the cloth on the item and threw it off revealing a wide circular mirror with a golden trim.
"They do!" Maleficent said with a growing smile on her face.
"So this mirror is a magic one?" Pete said tapping his head.
"Yes it is. You didn't think I sent you to get any old mirror did you?"
"Well that explains why that woman didn't want to give it to me." At hearing this Maleficent turned again to look at Pete.
"Is that so? Well then I hope you taught her a lesson she won't forget!" Pete grinned before clicking his fingers and a small Shadow Heartless appeared before Maleficent.
At looking at the Shadow Maleficent started to chuckle before breaking into mad laughter.
"The fool! I told her I would have her magic mirror for my own one day! And now it is mine."
"So uh, what are you going to do with it then?" Maleficent turned her head back to the mirror.
"I still have a score to settle with the Keyblade wielder and his petty friends! This shall help me do so. Plus I have another use for it as well..."
"And uh, what is this other use?" Pete asked with another confused look.
"Patience Pete my dear. Once we have dealt with Sora and the others, I will let you know what my other plans are." She then held her arms out.
"O magic mirror...AWAKEN!!!" At her words the mirror began to glow red with fire as a face appeared in the mirror.
It opened its eyes as it gazed at the two figures before it. The face seemed confused at its new surroundings.
"Welcome Magic Mirror...to your new home." Maleficent said to the mirror.
"You are not the mistress I served..." It looked at Maleficent with a raised eye.
"Indeed. But I have a better use for you than your mistress did." Maleficent said grinning.
"Is that right?" The mirror asked with a hint of doubt in its voice.
Maleficent noticed the doubt in its voice and chuckled lightly.
"Surely you would prefer to serve a REAL purpose? Or would you prefer to be wasted on a woman who wants to know if she is 'the most beautiful person in the world'?" Maleficent said in a confident tone.
The mirror fell silent as it took in the witch's words, for what she said was true. It had answered the same old question day after day. It longed for a better purpose, and this was its chance to have one.
"...Very well. I shall do your bidding now my lady. What do you wish to know then?"
"Wonderful! Now tell me magic mirror, where can I find the Keyblade bearer known as Sora?" As Maleficent spoke his name, a trace of venom could be detected.
"The Keyblade bearer Sora?" The mirror went silent for a minute before speaking again.
"He is currently on the planet that houses the lost city...Atlantis." Maleficent's eyes widened at hearing this.
"But that is where that Commander is! Show me the Keyblade wielder!!" At her words, the face on the mirror faded away and revealed Sora sitting in a truck, and next to him were Riku and Kairi.
"Well, well, well...what do we have here? Sora and Riku, and of course the seventh princess of heart Kairi as well. Ha-ha! This is even better than I thought it could be, even the king and his two lackeys are there as well!! Hahahahaaa!!"
"Um aren't you forgetting the fact that he seems to be with the commander guy?" Pete added.
Maleficent stopped her mad laughter and looked to see Rourke there as well. At seeing this her grip on her staff got tighter slightly.
"So it seems." Her smile had vanished in replace of a small glare.
"You don't think he's betrayed us you think?" Pete said.
"Maybe, and maybe he hasn't. After all I did forget to tell him to keep an eye out for the brats."
"So uh, what do we do now?" Pete asked.
Maleficent put her hand to her chin and began thinking of what to do. She had ordered Rourke to fetch the 'Heart of Atlantis' and bring it to her, but with Sora's presence on the planet, her plan could fall apart. After a minute or so, she spoke.
"We'll watch them for now. It will be awhile before they reach the city. And until they do, they are still prone to 'surprises'." Her smile was coming back.
"What kind of surprise?"
Maleficent turned round to face Pete, her smile had gotten wider and it was starting to freak Pete out a bit.
"This kind of surprise..." She then waved her right arm and from the ground spawned several Neo-Shadows and other various Heartless.
"What surprise could possibly be better than the Heartless?" Maleficent asked grinning.
Back with Sora and the others...
It had been several days since they had set off on the journey to find the lost city of Atlantis, it was taking longer than Rourke would like as well. And to top things of it didn't help that during their journey they had hit a few snags.
For starters they managed find the Turks again who had gone and crashed the truck into one of the caverns walls, they were no longer allowed to drive or ride as passengers in any of the vehicles as punishment. Then they nearly got devoured by a giant worm like monster thanks to Milo who happened to be reading the map upside down at the time.
But they managed to overcome these obstacles and proceed onwards through the vast cave like highway which seemed to go on and on forever. At this moment the convoy had stopped near a small bridge that went over a deep chasm that stretched for mile on end. Above the bridge was a rock that came down in an icicle shape with carvings and holes in it, to add to it the rock gave off an eerie green glow which illuminated the surroundings.
Milo was looking at the journal as his eyes shot up and down from the journal to the rock above the bridge.
"Well Milo, where are we now?" Audrey asked as she looked at Milo.
"Well if this is correct...we should be about half-way there now." Milo said looking at the rock.
"WHAT!? We're only half-way there?" Donald screeched in an aggravated tone.
"Yeah I'd say so..." Milo said with a nervous expression.
"Well in that case we might as well set up camp and get some sleep people." Rourke said who stood within hearing distance.
An hour later...
Row upon rows of tents was now laid out as the remaining crew members had all gotten as comfortable as they could. Sora and the others were sitting around one of the fires next to Sweet, Audrey, Mole and Vinny who had miraculously survived his beating from the Turks much to their dismay. Mrs Packard also was there but was busy smoking her cigarette.
"FOOD'S UP!!" The chef Cookie announced before walking over to the group with a barrel which contained said food.
As everyone received their share of the food, if it could be called food, their appetites suddenly vanished as they gazed at the meal. It looked like a sort of brownish gunk bearing no similarity with any other food in the universe. Everyone grimaced at the meal as if it were poison; it wouldn't be a surprise if it turned out to be poisoned. Sora, Riku and Kairi all stared at each other and back at their food.
"Is this stuff even safe to eat?" Kairi asked out loud.
"Well...if you can...get at it!!" Kairi turned to see Sweet with his spoon in the substance struggling to get a spoonful but to no avail.
"Knowing Cookie he probably just mixed one of each food in that pot, and this is the result." Vinny spoke next looking at the stuff on his spoon.
"What do you think Mole?" Vinny asked his friend who was sitting to his left.
Mole was looking back and forth between his meal and Audrey's; he had noticed she had a larger size of food to him. Audrey noticed and offered her meal to the insane man who took it with glee.
"Here knock yourself out." Audrey spoke.
Mole gasped in delight before commencing to devour the stuff making loud chomping noises. This got the attention of everyone around him as he simply ate the stuff without using the spoon provided; when there was nothing left he started licking the remains off with his tongue. The Turks were expecting Mole to eat the entire tray.
"Ooookkkkkkay..." Riku said in a worried tone.
"Hey where's Milo?" Sora asked looking around.
"In his usual spot." Vinny said pointing towards Milo who was sitting against a rock surrounded by his books. He looked like he was puzzled.
"Why does he sit over there by himself for?" Mickey asked.
"Probably so he can concentrate or something." Reno said examining his meal.
"Think we should invite him over? We have been kind of rough on him lately..." Sweet said.
It was true, most of the crew par Sora and the others had been a bit pushy with Milo. It was probably due to the fact he had nearly led the crew into several death traps such as a 56mile drop, accidentally leading them through a harsh blizzard wonderland and of course the ever so loved monstrous worm.
"Yeah why not. Hey Milo!" At hearing his name he turned to see Audrey waving.
"Want to come and sit with us?"
"Really? You don't mind?" Milo asked with a smile on his face.
"Nah park yourself here." Audrey pointed to a rock between her and Sweet.
Milo got up off his little stool which happened to be one of the smaller rocks on the ground and walked over to the group.
"Hey thanks guys!" As Milo was about to sit down, Mole rushed in with a whoopie cushion. As Milo sat on the rock the whoopie cushion did what whoopie cushions do best.
Mole began laughing out loud as everyone par Milo who sat with a confused look gave him a stern look.
"Hahaaa! Forgive me, I could not resist!"
After the little scene with Mole everyone went back to trying to the food Cookie had made, either they were trying to get some on their spoons or bare its weird taste. After a while Kairi looked up to see that Milo was still reading the journal while eating, the puzzled look on his face had returned.
"Is something wrong Milo? You've been looking puzzled for awhile now." Kairi asked with concern as everyone looked at Milo who was still looking puzzled.
"Milo do you ever stop reading that book?" Audrey asked.
"Yeah you must have read it a dozen times now!" Sweet said shortly afterward managing to get his spoon back from the food, only problem was the end piece was missing.
"Yeah I know, it's just that this part...it doesn't make sense." Milo said looking up briefly.
"Why's that then?" Goofy asked.
"Well in this part of the journal, it mentions something about the 'Heart of Atlantis'. I believe it could be the mysterious power source that's been described by countries everywhere. But then it just...cuts off." Milo said turning the page which showed a vehicle that looked like a Hammerhead Shark.
"It's like there's a missing page to it."
While most of the other crew members started saying he shouldn't worry about it and mentioning something about not being paid for overtime work, Sora on the other hand was a tad bit curious.
"How strange..." Sora said to himself. Kairi heard him and looked towards him.
"What the missing page?" Sora looked to her and nodded.
"You don't think that someone could have...taken it?" Kairi asked looking at Sora and Riku.
"How could they? It's been with that Mr Whitmore person since Milo's granddad found it. And I don't see any benefit it would bring him to hide one of the pages." Riku said to his friends in a low voice, hoping not to attract too much attention.
While everyone was talking amongst themselves Cookie arrived with another barrel and more trays.
"Main course is ready!" Everyone's faces paled in horror at the mere mention of 'Main course'.
"No thanks!"
"Yeah I'm stuffed!" Came the groups replies which got a smile on Cookies face.
"Alright then. And don't worry; this stuff can be kept for much, much later!"
Once he was gone everyone, par Mole, looked one last time at the foul substance on their trays before happily tipping their trays into the fire in the middle of their circle. Once all the food slopped its way into the fire a small explosion noise happened and a mini mushroom cloud came out. Everyone raised an eyebrow at this before heading off to their tents for the night.
T: There you go, Chapter 27 done! By the way, encase anyone couldn't work it out, the Magic Mirror Maleficent has is the one from Disney's Snow White. Which I do not own.
T: Till next time!