To makoto hagane: Great guess, but LoK is coming up later.
Also, I'm still trying to get this PM thing down so until then I'll answer replies here. Sorry.
Also also, I recommend that you guys watch some SpongeBob before reading this chapter ;)
Lost Before Birth Chapter 3: A Hint of Darkness/Who Lives in a Pineapple Under the Sea?
Bikini Bottom
The three friends landed on a small island in the middle of the ocean. The island was pretty small and contained a single palm tree, so they had to huddle close together. All of them changed out of their armor. Ven was now wide awake. He looked out at the sea, listening to the sound of the waves that was so familiar to him.
"Hey…This is a beach, right?" he asked his friends.
"Yeah," said Aqua. "Maybe you used to live on an island, Ven."
"Probably. I've been to one in my dreams…" Ventus said, thinking.
Just then, a giant spiky, sea urchin-looking creature flew out of the water. It was dark purple and had a strange red and black insignia in between some spikes. There was darkness radiating from it. The monster floated on the surface for a few seconds, then started spinning rapidly to propel itself through the water. It dived beneath the waves and out of sight.
"Unversed!' exclaimed Terra.
"Un-what?" said Ven. Does the name have to do with poetry or something?
"Unversed. Master Eraqus informed us about them. They are monsters that feed off of negative energy. He doesn't know where they came from, but they can appear anywhere. We can expect to run into them a lot."
Aqua and Ventus stood speechless. Did Terra just say four full sentences at one time? A whopping 37 words?! Must be a new record, Ven thought. They all just stood there for second, until Aqua remembered the Unversed. "Come on, we have to go after that thing!"
"But how?" Ven asked. "We can't breathe underwater."
"You're right, although we can't stay here, either. There might be someone in trouble."
"I highly doubt that there are people down there," Terra said, not so sure about this idea.
"Every world is different. Master Eraqus once said that he's been to a world where mushrooms make you grow. Besides, we can't just let that monster run free."
"Aqua's right. And who knows? Maybe we'll find the guy in the mask!" said Ven. Terra agreed.
They all held hands with Ven in the middle and stood at the edge of the island.
"We all jump on three," said Aqua. "One…"
"Two…"
"Three!"
They held their breaths and jumped. Something strange started happening once they were in the water, and Aqua was the first to notice. Her legs were stuck together. Wait a second, are they turning blue?! And is that a TAIL?! She gasped then put a hand over her mouth, realizing what she had done. Her heart was pounding, but she wasn't struggling for air. She could breathe underwater! She looked down at herself again. She had a blue tail which was the same color of her hair. She still had on her shirt and sleeves, although the armor button was deactivated.
She looked over at her friends, who had gone through the same transformation. Ven and Terra's tails were green and orange, respectively. Although…they weren't wearing shirts. Aqua couldn't stop staring at Terra. He was so muscular…
Ven put his hands around his neck, his face going purple.
"Ven, you can breathe!" Aqua told him, inhaling deeply for a visual example.
A flurry of bubbles left Ven's mouth as he swallowed a huge gulp of water.
"Isn't this so cool? We're mermaids!" Aqua commented, spinning around.
"Actually, you're the only mermaid. I prefer the term merman," Ven said, pushing out his chest.
Aqua laughed. "Sure, whatever rocks your boat. Now let's look around. Maybe we can ask someone if they've seen the Unversed."
~ o ~
After swimming for a few moments, they came across what looked like a see-through building that resembled a lobster trap. In front of the establishment was a clam propped up on a stick. The letters on the clam said: "The Krusty Krab".
"Sounds like a pub," remarked Terra.
Ven's face lit up. "Or…maybe it's a family-friendly restaurant!" he said, convincing them to go in. The Moogle had told him all kinds of stories about pubs (well, before the tragic incident with Terra, anyways). He wanted to see what one was like from the inside. He swam down to the door, leaving Terra and Aqua with no choice but to follow.
Inside the glass doors was a single room with wood panels for a floor. Red and yellow tables that looked like a ship's steering wheel were set up next to barrels that served as chairs. At the far side of the room was a boat with a cash register inside of it, a menu with outrageous prices hanging from the ceiling, and two doors on either side of the boat.
Aw man, I was right. It is just a restaurant, Ven thought, disappointed. He wasn't noticed by a group of friends at the cash register: a sponge, a sea star, a crab, a squid, and a…squirrel. With a helmet on. They were having a heated discussion.
"I'll beat up that vermin so bad he'll be like road kill that was run over by a high-speedin' trucker!" said the squirrel, who was a female with a southern accent.
"But if you don't come back, I'll have one less payin' customer!" said the crab.
"I am a master of karate! In fact, that's how I got this here badge!" the squirrel said, pointing to a picture of acorns on her suit.
"I thought that meant you were nuts!" said the star. The squid started laughing.
The yellow sponge spoke up: "Sandy, what if you get hurt?"
"Don't worry, Spongebob. Remember when we fought that pink bull worm? Everything was okay in the end. Now I gotta go and stop that thing before it gets outta control like a fire on a barbecue!" Sandy rushed past Ven, Aqua, and Terra.
The crab disappeared through one of the doors, muttering something about money. Aqua swam up to the squid who was manning the cash register.
He sighed, looking like he hated his life. "Welcome to the Krusty Krab, how may I help you?" he asked her in a monotone.
"Actually, we're looking for someone. "Have you seen a man in a black coat with a mask on his face?"
"No," the squid answered bluntly.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but may I ask you another question?" Aqua tried.
"No."
"Oh Squidward, you know that's not how we treat our customers!" said the sponge, walking over to them. "Hi, I'm Spongebob! That's my best friend Patrick, and this is our friend Squidward!" He hugged the squid.
"Get off of me! I'm going on break," Squidward said as he pushed the sponge off and stepped out of the boat. As he walked away he muttered something about working with idiots.
"Hi SpongeBob, I'm Ven, and this is Terra and Aqua," Ven said, introducing themselves.
"Look guys, I know we've just met and all, and I'd really love to stay and chat, but I've gotta go help Sandy!" SpongeBob told them.
"Wait a sec, she wasn't talking about going after that giant sea urchin, was she?" Ven asked.
"No, she was talking about that big spiky thing that's rolling around town," said Patrick, who had somehow gotten mustard all over his head. SpongeBob did a face-palm.
The crab came out of his room and faced SpongBob. "Yer not goin' anywhere!" he said. "I need you to fry them Krabby patties for me payin' customers!"
"But Mr. Krabs-"
"No buts! Now get yer butt back to work!" Mr. Krabs went back to counting money.
Ven tried to cheer SpongeBob up. "Don't worry. We'll go check on your friend for you. Right, guys?" Aqua and Terra nodded.
SpongeBob's face lit up. "Really? Thank you so much!"
"Not a problem," said Terra, finally speaking after about 15 minutes of silence.
"Well then, let's go!" said Aqua, swimming outside.
~ o ~
They followed the tracks of the Unversed until they reached the Goo Lagoon. "how can they have water underwater?" Aqua thought aloud.
"MY LEG!"
The three of them looked around for the source of the yell, but saw Sandy and the Unversed in combat on the beach instead. The squirrel had used some karate moves to subdue the monster, but that didn't do much good, so she jumped back. Sandy's opponent started spinning right towards her, and she tried to run away from the attack. The Unversed was faster. Just when it seemed like she was about to get crushed, Terra jumped in between them and blocked the sea urchin's spikes with his Keyblade. It slowed to a stop.
"Stand back. We're here to help!" he told Sandy. She nodded and went somewhere safe.
Terra, Aqua, and Ven started to attack the purple monster, which seemed stunned after Terra's block. After they got in a few combos, the creature dove underground, hiding from sight. The Keyblade wielders looked around and tried to guess where it would pop up next.
Suddenly Ven was knocked into the air by the sea urchin. His tail was hurting, but he used Aerial Recovery (which apparently works underwater too) to keep himself from falling. Aqua used Blizzard to freeze the Unversed. They all hit it multiple times, causing the ice to eventually fall off. When it seemed like the Unversed was too weak to take another hit, Aqua yelled "Now!"
"Let's finish this together!" Ven shouted as they all rushed at the Unversed with their Keyblades. They brought down their weapons at the same time, causing the Unversed to fade and its darkness to float away.
"That wasn't too bad," Terra said.
"Yeah, that Spike Ball was a piece of cake!" said Ven. Terra and Aqua looked at their friend quizzically. "What? I thought that maybe we should start naming the Unversed since there are different types of them."
The ground started to shake violently. The three friends looked up as a huge figure grew and loomed over them. It was a giant, green…Plankton. And he was radiating with darkness.
"That's Mr. Krab's archnemesis, Plankton!" Sandy yelled from behind a cabana. "He's supposed to be much smaller…I guess the monster must've had something to do with it! You have to stop him!"
"No one can stop me!" boomed Plankton. "Once I get my hands on that Krabby Patty formula, I will take over the world!"
Terra rushed to attack his feet, since that was the only part of him they could reach. Plankton lifted his foot and kicked Terra, sending him sprawling backwards a few feet. The brown-haired boy did not get up from the ground.
"Terra!" Ven and Aqua yelled. Ven felt fury rising up inside him. He ran toward Plankton, who was already picking Aqua up off the ground. He was squeezing her in his palm so tight she couldn't move.
"Let her go!" Ven yelled, showing off his Keyblade.
Plankton smiled evilly. "If you wish." He loosened his hand, letting Aqua fall to the ground with a thud. She coughed, struggling to breathe.
"I've had enough of you!" Ven shouted, literally glowing with rage. A small amount of darkness was surrounding him, but he was so upset he didn't notice.
"Ven?" Aqua said weakly as she watched him charge at the green giant. How could he have darkness inside of him?
~ o ~
Terra opened his eyes to see Ven fighting off Plankton all by himself. Something was different about him though…Terra's eyes opened even wider with shock. How can he be surrounded with darkness? Master Eraqus said his heart was full of light!
Terra looked to his right and saw Aqua on the ground, out cold. Ven seemed like he was doing alright, so he rushed over to Aqua. He just had to help her first. He used Curaga on her and she opened her eyes. He was filled with relief.
"Terra?"
"C'mon, we have to help Ven," he said, helping her up.
They attacked Plankton while swimming on either side of Ven, who didn't even notice them. Ven was twice as powerful with the darkness coursing through his veins, and Plankton never got a chance to hit them back.
Their enemy finally fell to the ground, reducing to his normal size.
"You have defeated me this time, but I will get that Krabby-AAAH!" The two-inch Plankton screamed as Ven passed out and fell on top of him.
"We need to take him to Master Eraqus," said Terra, lifting his friend. "We can't let the darkness control him."
"Right," said Aqua, worried.
As they were about to swim off, Sandy ran up to them. "Wait! I just want to thank y'all forvhelping me out back there. Is there anything I can do for you fellas?"
"No, we're looking for someone. He has on a mask and is wearing a black coat. He is a threat and we are trying to track him down. Have you seen him?" Aqua asked her.
"I haven't seen anyone by the looks of him."
Aqua was disappointed. "Oh. Well, thanks anyway."
"Sure thing. Now I gotta go tell SpongeBob I'm alright. He's probably as worried as a flock of sheep at the barber shop. Oh yeah, and if you ever need to talk to him, just stop by the Krusty Krab or his house. It's a pineapple, you can't miss it."
"Thank you," Terra and Aqua said.
They swam up to the surface, locating the little island in no time at all. As they climbed onto the shore, their tails were replaced with legs and all of their clothes were intact. Terra and Aqua summoned their armor, and then summoned Ven's own for him.
Earthshaker and Rainfall were thrown into the air, transforming into Keyblade Gliders. Terra and Aqua zoomed off into the sky with Ventus in tow. The most prominent thought in Aqua's head was- Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Until the next chapter is up, I'll have a poll asking which SpongeBob character you guys would wanna be, just to keep you occupied. If you have anything to say about this chapter, reviews are greatly appreciated.
~IJustDrownedUrGoldfish