Hey! Sorry it took so long for me to upload. I decided to take a break over the summer and work on some other projects, and the break kinda extended a little longer then I'd wanted…

But here it is! Chapter 6! Please enjoy!!

Chapter 6

Space whirls past my window in a mass of spectral grey-and-black hues. Stars twinkle far in the distance, faint and unmoving as my companions and I race along through the murky cosmos in our Gummi Ship.

Sora and Goofy are playing a game similar to Egyptian War on the floor beside a large electric radiator, laughing and shouting insults to one another as they place down and slap viciously at the cards sprawled messily on the ground between them. Goofy has offered more than once for me and Donald to join—but I've given the excuse that I'm having a severe headache—which is true—and the latter gave an answer consisting of nothing but stony silence.

Donald pilots the craft from up front, jerking and twisting the steering mechanisms as though he's wrangling Goofy's throat—the strange dog-man's loud, hiccupping laughter appears to be grinding on our feathered friend's nervous system, as every once and a while I'll see the duck's eyelid twitch spasmodically for several seconds before quieting down—and I know that this is hardly the time to bring up the subject of our destination.

Because problem is, for reasons no one can understand, we can't find it.

"Just a minor problem with our equipment," Donald had assured us stubbornly when he'd broken the news to us several hours earlier. "It's gotta be here somewhere."

The fowl just didn't want to admit defeat. What an obstinate little white puff ball he was. More than thrice I'd been tempted to pick him up and squeeze him—just to see if he was as soft and squishy as he looked. "Don't even think about it, Woman!" he'd garbled at me irately the first time the thought had sprung to mind. "Handling the duck is completely OFF LIMITS!!"

"Okay, okay…" I'd mumbled in defeat, slumping down in my chair to sulk.

But that was all behind us now. Not because time heals all wounds, but because there were other problems to nit-pick about. …Like actually finding somewhere to land the ship, so-to-speak.

"DARNIT!" Our fuming pilot yelled, banging his feathered fists onto the Gummi Ship's control panel. Several important-looking buttons blinked a fiery red.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked as he and Goofy had both paused mid-slap to stare at their distraught companion. "Still can't find it?"

Donald refused to answer. Instead he muttered distortedly under his breath and stomped away from the pilot seat to get a glass of water. We all watched as he left the room—nobody said a word, because silence seemed crucial—and breathed a sigh of relief when he'd gone.

"A-hyuck! Donald's sure in a bad mood over this," Goofy murmured, laying his hands quietly in his lap. "I just don't understand it! Why isn't the World where it should be…?"

We all mused on this for a moment before Sora's face lit with a brilliant idea.

"HEEY!!" he yelled, jumping ecstatically to his feet. "Elise, you could do it, right? YOU could find the World for us! Y'know, with your psychic powers!"

Uh-oh. Baaaad thing headed my way.

Donald's head poked in through the doorway, and in a matter of seconds everybody on the ship was staring holes into my face, waiting for an answer. I had no choice but to tell them I couldn't do it.

"W-Well, I guess I could try…"

Pathetic.

Utterly.

Everybody followed me as I ambled over—quite un-heroically, by my guess—to the piloting chair. I sat down. Tentatively fingered the controls.

"This one helps you steer," Goofy said, pointing to the main wheel. "…And that pedal down there is the accelerator."

Just like driving a car. Too bad I never got around to getting my license—or a permit. Wheeeeeee….

I stared at the controls, as though just looking at them would give me some clue as to what my next move would be. Then…

"Grab the wheel."

A voice…? Not belonging to anybody in the ship, obviously. It was in NO WAY familiar to my eardrums.

I grabbed the wheel.

"Turn left by 20 degrees and accelerate. Just a little."

Uh… okay……

I checked the coordinates and did as I was told. I could think about how creepy it was to have a disembodied voice in my head telling me what to do when we were safe on dry ground.

I turned the ship… tapped the accelerator… and shot off through space like a cockroach in the first rays of sunlight. It was fascinating. And horrifying.

And I could tell that my companions agreed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

You get the picture. The only reason I wasn't joining in on their terror-spawned chorus was because I'd been thrust flat against the chair, and the force of moving forwards so quickly was doing serious complications on my windpipe.

Ouch.

"WE'RE DOOMED!! DOOMED, I SAAAAY!!" Donald yelled as he clung to the back of my seat for support.

"De-accelerate, Elise! PLEASE!!" Sora shouted from where he lay on his back a few meters behind me.

"Not yet," something inside me said.

Then when? I asked. When?!

"Now."

Gotchya. I stomped on the brake, and was it just my imagination or did something crunch beneath my foot…?

Silence. Then pitiful groaning filled the room.

"I-Is everybody alright?" I asked, trembling as I swiveled around to face my friends. They were all flopped down on the floor in various stages of shock and relief. As they got to their feet, Donald pointed an accusing finger in my direction as he tottered in place like a drunken squirrel.

"You… are NEVER… driving this thing again," was all he said.

Beside me, Goofy stumbled against the Gummi Ship's windshield, and gave a delighted shout.

"Hey! Everyone! A-yuk!"

"What is it?" Sora asked dreamily from where he and Donald leaned against each other for support.

"The World!! Elise found it!!" Goofy said, grinning as he pressed his bulbous black nose onto the glass, smudging it with a thin layer of fog.

R-Really? I did?

"FOR REAL?" the other two yelled in unison.

As everybody congratulated me, I couldn't help but feel like a million bucks. But then the thought returned.

Who was that voice…? Why had they helped me?

"I'll land the ship, and then we can see what went wrong with our locating gear," Donald said as he obligingly took over the pilot's chair, his mood improved ten fold despite the fact that he was bruised, and his feathers were in disarray.

"Yeah. That was too weird," Sora mumbled as the two of us waddled over to sit down on the floor next to the radiator. Goofy joined us momentarily, and for a few seconds the three of us sat in silence.

Then, "Hey, how about a game of Slapjack?" I asked.

"Sure," they replied.

And so it began.

End of Chapter 6

Thanks for reading!! See you at the next installment!! (Which will be posted ASAP)