Disclaimer: Not mine, yay!

Chapter 20- The Stomach of the Beast

Riku put his fists on his hips and looked around at his new surroundings. Hook had been very pleased when he found that he wanted to go search inside Monstro. The whale had entranced him. How did such a creature survive the destruction of his world and manage to stay alive in this empty part of space? Riku hoped that the whale held an answer to how he could get Kairi's Heart back.

"Hi!"

Riku looked down. A small boy was by his side. Riku blinked several times when he saw that the boy was made out of wood.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Pinocchio!" The 'boy' jumped up and down excitedly.

"Are you a puppet?" Riku reached down and tapped Pinocchio on the head. It gave off a hollow wood-like sound.

"I'm no puppet! I'm a real boy!" Pinocchio protested and rubbed his head. "Well… not yet really. But I know The Blue Fairy will make my wish come true if I'm a good boy!"

"The Blue Fairy?" asked Riku uncertainly.

"Yeah! She's really pretty and she makes your wish come true! She was the one who granted my Father's wish so that I could l be his son!" explained the puppet in a child's way. "Um, will you play with me?"

Riku thought deeply, half-listening to Pinocchio. "Yeah, whatever, just not now."

"Oh… okay." said Pinocchio disappointedly and left.

Riku wandered over to a platform of wood and sat down to think. 'That puppet must have had a Heart in order for it to move and talk. The Blue Fairy must have given him one. Maybe she can help me with Kairi's Heart?' Riku looked up and realised that Pinocchio had left. 'Drat. I need him to help me find this Blue Fairy.'

*****

"We found Riku, well, kinda… But now we've lost Iji, and Kairi's still nowhere in sight." groaned Sora. He stared out into space as the ship glided past the desert world of Agrabah.

"What is that?!" squawked Donald suddenly.

"Huh?" Sora turned his attention forward. "Wow! It's huge!"

A large blue creature flew past, rattling the ship. A horrible ear-piercing noise echoed inside the cockpit.

"It's a whale!" exclaimed Goofy.

"It's Monstro!" explained Jiminy Cricket. He hopped up closer to the glass. "We have to be careful! He's extremely vicious! We should get out of here."

"Too late!" shouted Sora and pointed.

The whale swept in and opened his mouth.

*****

Two children strolled up from a picturesque beach past a sparkling waterfall. They stopped before a crack in the cliff which was covered in plants. A tunnel lay hidden behind it.

"It's true, Riku! There was this weird girl in there!" A young Sora pointed to the opening of the Secret Place.

"Are you sure you didn't just dream it up, Sora?" asked Riku sceptically. "And since when are you so brave? You're normally such a coward unless I'm around."

Sora pulled a face at his silver-haired friend. "I saw her with my own eyes!"

Riku considered Sora's story. "What did she look like?"

"Uh, well, she had these wings! Like this!" Sora flapped his arms out.

"Wings?"

"Yeah!" Sora stared inside the tunnel.

Riku smiled and shook his head. His friend Sora was a funny kid.

"Do you hear that?" asked Sora.

A soft whistling reached the two children's ears.

"What is it…?" Riku bent over and stared into the tunnel as well.

"It reminds me of that girl's voice." commented Sora.

Riku stood back up. "Hey, Sora."

"Yeah?" Sora looked up.

"When we grow up, let's get off this boring island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!" Riku said excitedly.

Sora smiled. "Yeah, we'll get out of here and I'll try and find that girl again!"

"Sure," agreed Riku. "I want to meet her too. But for now, let's go visit that new girl at the Mayor's house."

Sora nodded and the two ran off.

*****

Donald shook an angry fist at their tooth-filled prison. "Knock it off!" he yelled at it as the whale groaned loudly.

Sora sat up and blinked. They were inside Monstro's mouth. Mounds of wood were piled around the place, surrounded by water… Sora stared at the water. He really did hope it was water and not… something else…

"Ahyuk. Hey, Sora. Are you okay?" Goofy helped Sora to his feet. "Ya know, I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us."

Donald rolled his eyes at his friend's comment. A treasure box fell from the roof and landed next to Sora. Donald looked up.

"Who's there?" he demanded, holding his staff up.

"It's me!" shouted a kid's voice. Up above on one of the wood piles, a boy rummaged through a large chest. He pulled out a green blob and started walking away, carrying the object that Sora recognised as a Gummi Block.

"Pinocchio!" yelled Jiminy excitedly. "Where are you going? Pinnoch? Come on, let's follow him."

The group climbed up onto the planks and started jumping after the puppet. Sora prayed that he wouldn't slip and fall into the… water… Pinocchio carefully scrambled up onto the deck of a wooden ship washed up towards the back of the mouth.

"Well, what have you got there, Pinocchio?" A grey-haired man with a finely combed moustache asked.

The puppet smiled childishly. "With this, we can get out of here, Father!"

"With this strange block? You think so?" He bent down to inspect the green block Pinocchio had placed on the deck.

"It's true." Sora climbed up onto the boat.

The old man looked up with surprise. "Oh my, so the whale must have swallowed you too? My goodness!"

Sora scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "Yeah, looks like it. So how'd you both get in here?"

"My name is Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father," The grey-haired man limped over and shook the trio's hands. "When we got separated, I travelled all over looking for him. Thank goodness we're together again."

Sora smiled at the old man. Movement suddenly caught his eye. He peeked over Geppetto's shoulder and swore he saw an oddly familiar person running into Monstro's throat.

Geppetto continued. "So, you seem to know my son quite well. I do hope he was a good boy in my absence." The man stretched. "Well, we've all had quite a journey. Right, Pinocchio?"

Geppetto turned to see his son skip off down into Monstro's throat. Sora waved at Geppetto to not worry as he took chase after the puppet.

*****

The trio stumbled into a cavern of some kind. The floors were sickeningly moist with saliva. Sora felt queasy just looking at the walls, which looked as though they had been painted by a three-year-old and had jelly beans stuck on it. Pinocchio rocked back and forth on his heels looking slightly suspicious.

"What are you doing, Pinocchio? Come on, let's get back to where it's safe." said Sora.

"You know, your father's awfully worried about you getting lost." advised Goofy.

The puppet only smiled.

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around. This is no place for games." Sora went to leave.

"But Sora, I thought you liked games." snickered Riku. He stepped up beside Pinocchio and put a hand on the puppet's head. "Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"

Sora spun around, his eyes wide. "Riku! Wh-what are you doing here?"

Riku shrugged. "Oh, just playing with Pinocchio. It's not like anyone else is going to."

Sora stepped forward and scowled. "You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?"

The teen shrugged again, but this time more jokingly. "Maybe... Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

Riku grabbed Pinocchio by the hand and pulled him down deeper into Monstro's throat. Sora yelled and ran after him.

*****

Riku raced into the bowels of the monster whale. He knew it would take Sora a lot longer, especially with all the Heartless in the way and the fact that the younger boy wasn't as fast. Maleficent stepped out from a portal.

"Why do you still care about that boy? He has all by deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions after all." She looked down at him with a look of disapproval.

Riku frowned back. "I don't care about him. I was just messing with him a little."

Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Of course you were… Beware the darkness in your Heart; the Heartless prey upon it."

"Mind your own business." growled Riku.

Maleficent stepped back into a portal and left.

Sora emerged into the bowels. "Riku! What the hell is wrong with you?!" he demanded. "What were you thinking?! Don't you realise what you're doing?!"

Riku narrowed his eyes and glared at him. "I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade of yours these days. Do you even want to save Kairi? Do you even want to find Iji?"

Sora's anger dissolved into sadness as he heard the two girl's names. "I do…" His neck snapped up as realisation dawned. "Where is she, Riku? Where is Iji?"

"What do you mean?" Riku pretended he knew nothing.

"How do you know that Iji is missing? Riku, where did you see her last?" There was a strange calmness and maturity in Sora's voice that Riku had never heard before.

Riku averted his gaze. "I may have seen her…"

He stopped and looked up at the roof. A hole opened and a strange blue Heartless creature leapt down. A pair of arms flung out and snatched Pinocchio up. The puppet cried out for help as he was taken into the creature's barred mouth.

Riku walked up to Sora and summoned his Dark Blade. "You up to this?"

Sora looked at him in a puzzled fashion, but nodded and summoned his Keyblade. "Let's do this."

The Parasite cage lurched forward and started to attack. Sora, Goofy, Donald and Riku leapt to the side and avoided it. The Heartless bounced back to the centre and flailed its arms wildly, nearly knocking Donald off his feet as he threw a fireball. Goofy ran in to protect his friend.

"Give me a lift!" yelled Sora to Riku. "Its face is its weakest area!"

Riku slid under one of the arms over to Sora and made a step with his hands. Sora bounded onto it and Riku grunted as he heaved the brown-haired boy up into the air. Sora landed on top of the Parasite Cage's head.

"Die!" shouted Sora and shoved the Keyblade into the Heartless' face.

The creature gave a shudder and spat Pinocchio out onto the ground. It twitched horribly and fell through a hole that opened in the floor. Sora jumped off.

"Ha! We did it, Riku!" exclaimed Sora gleefully.

Riku ignored him and seized Pinocchio, heaving him down into the hole. Sora tumbled in after them and landed on the deck of Geppetto's boat.

"Please! Give me back my son!" begged Geppetto, motioning towards Riku who stood on a platform above them. Pinocchio lay limp in his arms.

"Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet." Riku settled the unconscious Pinocchio over his right shoulder.

"He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!" objected Geppetto.

"He is unusual. Not many puppets have Hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs." Riku took a side glance at the wooden boy.

Sora gasped. "Wait a minute. Are you talking about Kairi?"

Riku sneered at Sora. "What do you care about her? Why do you care for Iji even? You left her behind, too. You don't deserve to know her. I don't know why she came to you, but it's obvious now that she shouldn't of."

Riku jumped over to another platform leading to Monstro's stomach. Sora followed.

*****

Sora grabbed Riku's arm. The teen turned around and whacked him off. The two glared at each other, deep hatred starting to rise in their eyes.

"Let Pinocchio go, Riku." Sora said in his almost-freakishly calm voice again.

The puppet was over leaning on a wall, semi-conscious. Jiminy ran over, tears in his small eyes.

Riku flipped aside some of his hair. "A puppet that's been given a Heart… Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi… How about it, Sora?" Riku's voice lightened. "Let's join forces to save her! We can do it together!"

Sora bent down into a fighting position.

Riku frowned. His voice turned back to that of before. "What? You'd rather fight me than help me save Kairi? Looks like I was right after all. If anything, you're the one who has no Heart."

"Heart or no Heart, at least I have a conscious. You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear! And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!" shouted the Keyblade Master.

"Then you give me no choice." growled Riku. "You'll never see Kairi or Iji again!"

Sora went in for the attack, but before he could reach out and strike Riku, and blue blob emerged from the roof. The Parasite Cage was back. Riku turned and created a portal. He took one last look at Pinocchio as the puppet ran for his life before he faded into the darkness.