The parting between Akane's and Taran's teams was made short, since both groups still had an important mission to accomplish.
So while Taran, Eilonwy, Flewwddur - and possibly Gurgi, since Kasumi believed that the furry little guy still would try to stay near his 'friend' Taran - went to find some clues regarding the Black Cauldron, Akane, Ranma, Kasumi and Leormon returned to the crevice where Nabiki and the Evangelion Unit were still waiting.
"Our own Gummi Ship has a teleporter that brought us to the surface," Tellah said when they told him that they had landed on the surface of this world. "I'm surprised that there isn't such a device in your own ship."
"Well, we didn't really get many chances to learn much about these Gummi Blocks before we left," Akane explained. "All we learned was that we could effortlessly attach them to any existing surface and that there are certain kinds that we were able to use as a cockpit or as additional weapons."
"There's much more to them," Tellah said. "I may not be an expert... but I know that you could build a whole ship that's solely made of Gummi Blocks, all you need is an amount that's big enough, and some sort of Engine Gummi - although some weapons would be advisable, in case some Heartless are in your path."
"I suppose you can teach my sister Nabiki a couple of things when we get back," Akane said. "She's our group's technician."
Finally, they came back to Nabiki and the Eva Unit.
Rydia and Tellah, who had already travelled in a Gummi Ship, were astonished when they saw Unit 04.
"I've never seen such a... such a... vessel before," Rydia murmured. "It looks like a giant man made of metal... are you sure it can fly?"
"Definitely," Ranma nodded. "That tin can brought us here in the first place."
He winced when a soft, but big Gummi Block got hurled against his head. "I told you never to call my Eva a tin can again, didn't I, Saotome?" Nabiki shouted. She came out from behind one of Unit 04's legs. "So, you're finally back? I was starting to get worried."
"Worried?" Ranma smirked. "About ME?"
Nabiki frowned. "No, not really, Ranma, but about my little sister!"
"I know how to use the Keyblade by now, Nabiki," Akane grumbled. "I know how to take care of myself."
"Well, if you say so..." Nabiki shrugged. "So, who are your friends?"
"My name is Rydia," the young summoner introduced herself. "And this is my old friend Tellah."
"We saved them from some kooky king," Ranma explained. "We also ran into Ryoga. Oh yeah, and we found a Keyhole."
"Well, sounds like you had your fun," Nabiki said. "In the meantime, I learned quite a few things about these Gummi Blocks... you know, I actually managed to boost my Eva's speed by attaching some blocks to its backside... they sort of look like little exhaust pipes."
"Engine Gummis," Tellah explained. "The bigger they are, the faster they allow your vessel to fly."
"Right, that's what I figured," Nabiki nodded. A thoughtful expression then appeared on her face. "You know, I can't really take any more passengers along... the Cockpit Gummi is cramped as it is."
"That's not a problem, actually," Rydia smiled. "We brought our own Gummi Ship."
"And I was wondering..." Tellah said. "If you have a Curaga-Gummi for a cockpit, why don't you use its teleporter to get on the surface?"
Nabiki looked at him strangely. "I didn't even know there was such a device..."
"But it certainly would make landing on any world much easier," Kasumi smiled.
Nabiki was intrigued. Ever since she had become Dr. Akagi's personal assistant, in addition to having been elected to be Unit 04's pilot, she wanted to learn more about alien technologies. And while at first, she had concentrated on the Eva technology, AT fields and the like, these Gummi Blocks opened new, exciting possibilities for her. She was wondering what Dr. Akagi would say if she learned of the substance they were made of...
"Could you... teach me more about Gummi Blocks?" she asked Tellah.
The sage smiled. "I'm afraid I'm not really a specialist, that would be my friend Cid back in Balamb-Garden."
"Balamb... Garden?" Akane wondered.
Rydia smiled. "That's our home base! A resort for all people that are being chased by the Heartless... and also the new home of the fugitives from our old home world, Radiant Garden."
A deep frown appeared on Tellah's face. "Before it got swallowed by darkness and became the abomination known as Hollow Bastion..."
Akane was amazed to hear how many unknown worlds existed. "So... Cait Sith is from Balamb-Garden, too?"
"You could say that," Rydia nodded. "But remember, he really was a robotic doll that controlled by a human, one of our closest friends. His name is..."
Nabiki cleared her throat. "Can we discuss this on the way?" she impatiently asked. "I thought we still had a long way before we reach our goal."
"Yes, that's right," Tellah nodded. "Very well, let me show you how to use the teleporter first... and then, we will teleport back to our own ship, the 'Enterprise'."
"We will show you the right way to Balamb-Garden," Rydia said. "It can be a pain to find, but that's only because it's constantly moving. And after we get there, we will introduce you to the headmaster."
Tellah did not just show Nabiki and Akane how to activate the teleporter, but also how to use the communication system. With it, they could speak with each other, even if they were aboard different Gummi Ships.
The Enterprise was a ship that was only a bit bigger than Unit 04, and it was similarly shaped to a sailing ship, without the masts and the sails. It had been circling the orbit ever since Rydia and Tellah had left it. Rydia also introduced them to their own little mechanic, a strange little creature named Mog. He looked like a white teddy bear with purple wings and a red pompom on his head.
Kasumi smiled when she saw Mog's face on the screen of the communicator. "He's so cute."
"Thanks for the compliment, kupo!" Mog said. "Also, a mighty thanks for getting my pals out of there. I would have missed their company, seriously, kupo..."
"Mog is a Moogle," Rydia explained. "His kind had been living on Radiant Garden, in peace with the humans... but ever the Heartless appeared, they all were scattered across the worlds."
"But me and my friends are all working in Balamb-Garden, kupo," Mog explained.
"Another thing," Nabiki spoke up from her own Eva cockpit. "How long until we reach this 'Garden' of yours?"
"I guess a couple of hours," Tellah said. "Depends on how many Heartless ships we will run into on our way..."
"Oh well, at least the trip won't get boring," Ranma shrugged. He was now back to his male self. Rydia had been pretty surprised by his change, but she told him that she had seen weirder things.
About two hours had passed since they left, and they had already blasted a good amount of Heartless ships. Nabiki watched with interest when after the battle, the Enterprise extended mechanical arms that were attached to a pair of special Gummi Blocks and used them to collect several Gummi Blocks the destroyed Heartless ships had left behind.
"Osmose Gummis," he explained. "Always come in handy if you need a couple of more advanced Gummis for your ship."
"I want some of those..." Nabiki pouted.
Akane then noticed that Ranma was crouching in the back of the cockpit, looking intently on something small he was holding. He looked concerned.
She sat down next to him. "Hey, what's the matter?"
Ranma showed her his Senshi communicator. "I've tried to reach Usagi and the other Senshi," he explained. "But I can't get a clear signal... maybe these things just work in close range to our own world." He sighed. "I just wanted to let them know that I'm fine... still, I somehow feel like I have abandoned them..."
Akane was silent for some while. While she had friends as well, she had never been part of a team, and especially not a team as famous as the Sailor Senshi, the Digidestined or even the government organization known as NERV.
But what she, her sisters and Ranma were currently doing was something similar, wasn't it? She smiled when she realized that this was the beginning of something big. All of them had ventured off into unknown, dangerous places... Kasumi had gone into the Digital World, Ranma had joined the Senshi when they had entered Queen Nehellenia's dimension, and Nabiki had even entered a volcano in her Eva (alongside Asuka) to fight one of the Angels.
True, she didn't know what would happen to them, not even if they would return in one piece... but then again, they could always depend on each other. Her fiance was a powerful martial artist as well as a magical girl, one of her sister was the pilot of a huge battle mech, and her oldest sister had a Digimon companion that would always be on her side. And she... well, she was getting more and more comfortable while using the Keyblade in battle, and it almost felt as natural to her as using the martial arts her father had taught her.
"Ranma..." she said. "You may have left your friends behind... but I'm still glad that you decided to join me." She smiled. "And didn't Nabiki and Kasumi do the same? Nabiki left her fellow pilots behind to deal with the Angels. Kasumi left her fellow Digidestined behind. We all left our friends and family in Nerima behind. Heck, I'm even starting to miss Ukyo and Shampoo. But..." She stared out into the vastness of interspace. "Should we really miss this chance? There are so many different worlds out there, waiting for us... and if being a Keyblade Master means I have to visit them all, then I am glad that I was chosen. But, you know... I would have been a lonely job if you hadn't come with me..."
Ranma grinned. "Hey, that was pretty profound, Akane! Did the Keyblade turn you into a philosopher on top of everything?"
"Baka," she smirked.
"But yer right, I guess. I would have never let you go by yerself. Not after... um, ya know... after we're finally getting along so great with each other... I mean, what I wanna say is... I'm happy to be here with you."
Akane smiled and hugged her fiance. "Me too, Ranma! Me too..."
"Um, I really hate to interrupt your little tete-a-tete... but something's approaching us," Nabiki's voice spoke up from the communicator.
"Oh my, she's right," Kasumi said in a worried tone of voice. "It's coming from the left... and it doesn't look like any of the Heartless ships we've seen so far."
"It looks like a big, flying ship..." Akane muttered as she looked outside as well. "Even more so as the Enterprise... Tellah, what could that be?"
"I'm not sure..." the old man murmured. "But I know that several ships exist that have been normal sailing ships before, but that are able to fly in interspace without the help of wind or waves."
"Well, the question is: Are they friend... or foe?" Nabiki asked.
The flying ship was coming closer and closer, and they now could see that it was very strange in appearance... it almost looked like it was made out of organic materials instead of normal wood. The bow looked like the huge skull of a dead fish creature. The torn sails were fluttering as if an invisible wind was blowing through interspace. And it was fast. Very fast.
Leormon snarled at the incoming ship. "I don't like this thing..." he growled.
"Dear god..." Tellah then gasped. "My friends, I think I recognize this ship... and when I am correct, then more than our lives are in danger."
"Wh-why?" Rydia asked, surprised at the fear in her old friend's voice.
Tellah shivered. "It's the Flying Dutchman..." he whispered. "The ghost ship of Davey Jones..."
Ranma and Akane looked at each other.
"Who?" they both asked at once.
"I believe you're getting your answer," Nabiki said. "Look!"
On the Dutchman's deck, an assortment of strange creatures had appeared. They had the shape of humans, but they all had parts of different kinds of sea creatures growing on them. Kasumi gasped when she saw a man with the head of a hammerhead shark, and another one whose face was encrusted with barnacles.
"Oh my..." she muttered. She was horror-stricken. "Oh, oh my... that is so... so..."
"Abnormal?" Nabiki asked. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too..."
"Those things... they are not human, are they?" Akane whispered.
And then, another creature had appeared in their middle. It was a tall man, but with octopus tentacles sprouting from his chin, just as if they were a living, wriggling beard. His left arm looked like the claw of a crab. He stared upon the Gummi Ship and the enormous Evangelion Unit as if he didn't have to fear anything from them.
Even though Akane and her friends could not hear his voice, Davey Jones began to shout commands to his crew:
"Let no joyful voice be heard!" he yelled. "Let no man look up at the sky with hope! And let this day be cursed by we who are ready to wake... the Kraken!"
Within the Cockpit Gummi of Evangelion Unit 04, everyone was holding their breath as they waited for what the creepy pirates would do next.
Everyone except Ranma.
"Aw, what are you all scared of? It's just a bunch of silly-looking pirates, I say we go out their and beat them up."
"I hate to admit it, but Ranma has a point," Nabiki spoke up. "We are sitting in an Evangelion Uni, one of the most advanced weapons ever created on Earth, enhanced by Gummi Blocks - I can't believe I'm saying this..."
"Even with our help, you would have a hard time against Davey Jones, believe me," Tellah said. "His ship, the 'Flying Dutchman', is the most dangerous ship that has ever sailed through Interspace. I'm not sure even our ship, the Enterprise, could outrun him..."
"Well, then I think we should..." Before Nabiki could finish her sentence, however, something shook Unit 04 around.
"What... what was that?" Akane asked.
Up in her own Eva cockpit, Nabiki grimaced as she struggled with her controls. "Something has taken a firm grip on my Eva's arms," she said. "I can't break free..."
"What? Whatever could be big enough to grab an Evangelion?" Akane wondered.
"I can't see anything..." Nabiki said. "Tellah, can you tell what's grabbing us?"
"I... I see it..." came the nervous reply of the sage. "And I know what kind of creature has entangled you with its limbs... although I wish I wouldn't see it..."
"It's the Kraken!" Rydia gasped. "One of the legendary creatures of the depths."
"Huh? Doesn't sound too intimidating," Leormon grumbled. "And I've tangled with MetalSeadramon..."
Suddenly, something huge appeared in front of their cockpit. It was a tentacle... but it was certainly bigger than a regular octopus tentacle. One of its suckers alone was bigger than a human's head.
"That... that thing alone is as long as MetalSeadramon..." Leormon gulped.
"It must have crept up on you from down below..." Rydia muttered. "I don't think our lasers would even graze that monster... we are doomed..."
"Now just hold on a second!" Nabiki protested. "I'm not about to give up because of some big tentacle monster!"
Akane shivered. "Sis, stop sending images into my brain..."
"Here goes nothing..." Nabiki grunted and pushed forward. Her Eva's left arm actually managed to free itself from the Kraken's grasp. "I did it!" the middle Tendo cheered. "Now let's show that thing what years of battling Angels turned me into..." She reached for the big battle knife that was hidden within Unit 04's left leg and thrusted it into the tentacle that was entangling her right arm. The Kraken let out an inhuman wail as its tentacle flailed around. With both arms free again, Nabiki reached down to take her gun...
Only to have it wrestled out of her Eva's grasp by another tentacle. The Kraken made one small gesture, and the gun was flung into the distance, where it floated off.
"Dang! How am I gonna explain this to Akagi-sensei?" Nabiki grumbled.
"This... this doesn't look good..." Kasumi murmured when they saw how more tentacles wrapped themselves around the Eva's torso, effectively hindering them from moving at all.
"Aww, let me go out there, and I'll turn that monster into octopus dumplings!" Ranma shouted.
"Ranma, do us a favor and stop being an idiot," Akane grumbled. "You'd stand no chance against a thing that can take on an Evangelion Unit..."
"I doubt even WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon would manage to beat that thing with their powers combined..." Leormon gulped.
In the Enterprise, their new friends and allies watched the scene with horror. "We... we've got to do something, Tellah!" Rydia insisted.
"What can we do?" Tellah murmured. "It's one of the legendary creatures of the depths... you know what the stories say about them. No one that fells victim to them ever returns. You know what happened to the poor woodcarver from Twilight Town after he met the enormous whale, Monstro, right?"
"I wish Leviathan was here right now..." Rydia whispered. "Still, there must be something we can do... even though our lasers can't pierce the Kraken's skin, we could at least try to free our friends from its tentacles."
"Well... it's definitely worth a try," Tellah sighed. "Without the Keyblade Master's help, our world is doomed anyways..."
Davey Jones narrowed his eyes when he saw how the Enterprise turned around to aim its cannons at the Kraken.
"All right, you salty sea dogs!" he barked. "Let them taste the triple guns!"
"Aye aye, captain!" his monstrous crewmembers shouted back, and soon enough, a trio of huge cannons emerged from the Dutchman's front.
"Send their ship down to the depths!" Davey Jones yelled, and the cursed pirates opened fire.
Tellah and Rydia gasped when the Enterprise was bombarded by the shots of the Flying Dutchman. "We... we can't get a clear shot," Tellah grunted. "And when they keep this up, I'm afraid this will be the end for both us and our friends..."
"Th-that can't be!" Rydia protested. "I... I'll summon Ifrit! Or Shiva... or both! I'll..."
"You can't do anything..." Tellah whispered. "We've lost..."
"The enemy is not fighting back," Davey Jones' shark-headed bosun grinned.
"Keep firing until they are history!" Jones commanded. "You know what's at stake, so don't you fail me!"
"Aye, cap'n..." the bosun nodded. "Keep firing, men!"
'This is it...' Nabiki thought. 'I've done everything I could... and I definitely can't break free. I always knew I would meet my end in the cockpit of my Evangelion... but I never knew it would be in the fight against a mythological creature...'
"Mom... it was an honor to have fought with you..." Nabiki whispered. Unit 04 answered with a soft growl.
But then, in the darkest of all hours, when everybody thought this would be the end, another ship appeared in the distance.
"Sailing ship on starboard, cap'n!" one of the pirates shouted.
"What?" Davey Jones shouted as he ran to take a look himself. "Who would dare to approach us willingly?"
It was a sailing ship, indeed, but it looked much more majestic than the ugly tub the Flying Dutchman was. Curiously, though, it lacked any sails, but it still was able to move at an astounding speed. Unlike the monstrous crewmates of Davey Jones, the sailors they could see on board of that ship were completely human, including the purple-haired female that was standing close to the ship's bow, holding a cutlass in her hand.
But there was one thing that both this ship and the Dutchman had in common: On the top of the mast, a pirate's flag was placed.
Davey Jones snarled. "Who... is that?"
"I can't believe it..." Rydia whispered. "Tellah, we're saved... it's Captain Faris and her crew!"
"Bring the ship about!" the female pirate captain shouted. "Ready all cannons! We will send the Flying Dutchman back to where it belongs!"
Back on board of the Dutchman, the cursed pirates were taken aback when they saw how the other vessel prepared for combat.
"Your orders, cap'n?" the bosun asked.
"Leave the Enterprise be for now," Jones grumbled. "If those pirate wannabes desire death so much, we shall gladly give it to them."
"And what about the Kraken?"
"What about it? Let it crush that tin can and strangle those fools to death!"
Tellah and Rydia watched how Faris' crew was about to engage the Dutchman. "I wonder if they can actually defeat them..." she whispered.
"Well, we certainly can't help them," Tellah grumbled. "Those cannon shots have destroyed both our Fira-Gummis and Thundara-Gummis. We can't escape or fire, so we can't help either of our friends."
In the Gummi cockpit of Unit 04, the Nerimians were watching the battle between the pirates.
"What's going on out there?" Leormon wondered.
"Another pirate ship appeared and is battling the monster pirates," Akane explained. "They don't look as bad as them..."
"But does that automatically make them our friends?" Ranma asked sceptically.
"Well, only one way to find out," Kasumi smiled and activated the communicator. "Tellah, can you tell us anything about these new pirates that were so nice to come to our aid?"
"It's the ship of Captain Faris Scherwitz," Tellah explained. "Former pirates, they are now on our side and help us fight the Heartless or anyone who sides with them. Their nautical skills are legendary... although even I don't know how their ship can move like that..."
"Forget about that, can their cannons take on the Kraken?" Ranma asked.
"I don't think so," Tellah replied. "Even if they managed to drive the Flying Dutchman away, there's nothing much they can do against the Kraken..."
In the meantime, Captain Faris was watching how the tentacled monster was tightening its grip on the helpless Evangelion Unit.
"Captain, we've just received a message from the Enterprise," one of her crewmates said. "Sage Tellah's on board, and he said that none other than the Keyblade Master in in that strange-looking vessel in the Kraken's grasp."
"Then we have no other choice," Faris said. "Release him, now!!"
"But... but captain! We'd give up our mobility..."
"I don't care, it's the only chance we have! Only he can take on the Kraken! So get to it!"
"R-right away, ma'am..." the pirate stuttered.
Davey Jones was watching them from aboard the Flying Dutchman. "What in the name of the seven hells are they doing?" he grumbled when he saw how several crewmen ran up to several chains that were attached to the other ship's front side. "What is attached to those chains?" he muttered and walked up to the rail. He peered down into the depths. As usual, the lowest depths of Interspace was as black as a Shadow Heartless.
"Captain... something's stirring down there..." his bosun murmured.
Suddenly, a shrill screech echoed up from the depths as a long, serpentine neck came shooting up in-between both pirate ships. It was the most immense sea dragon Davey Jones and his crew had ever seen...
"Now shiver me timbers..." Jones growled. "I never believed that thing actually exists..."
"What... what is it, captain?"
"It's the only creature that could actually harm the Kraken," Davey Jones growled. "It's the third legendary creature of the depths... it's the Syldra!"
"Syldra, attack the Kraken!" Faris shouted.
The sea dragon screeched again and dove at the Kraken's main body, biting at its vulnerable eyes with its jaws. The Kraken was forced to let go of Unit 04 with a few of its arms to defend itself against Syldra's vicious attack.
"That's it! Good boy!" Faris cheered.
"What... what the heck just happened?" Akane asked.
"I'm not sure... but I'm definitely not gonna let this chance go to waste!" Nabiki shouted, freeing her left arm yet again and thrusting the knife into another one of the Kraken's tentacles. At the same time, Syldra bit into another tentacle that was wrapped around Unit 04's torso, and in the end, Nabiki managed to break free.
"That's it!" she shouted. "Now let's hope that cute little dragon-thing can hold the beast down until I've retrieved my gun..."
And she activated the Fire-Gummis on her back to fly over to where her gun was still floating freely through space.
"What?" Akane shouted. "Everyone's fighting for their lives, and you are worried about that gun?"
"Hey, you don't have to go back and explain to Dr. Akagi how you could have lost an invaluable piece of equipment," Nabiki grumbled. "Do you know how scary she can be when she gets angry? Besides, I think we need that gun to finish that thing off..."
"Well, you're the Eva pilot..." Akane shrugged.
"You got it!" Nabiki smirked. Then they reached the gun, and Unit 04 took it back.
"That's it!" Nabiki grinned as she hefted her weapon. "Get ready for SUSHI!"
Author's Notes:
Faris and Syldra are both from Final Fantasy V.