Here's chapter number 16!
I'm sorry it took so long to get the next chapter out. I had school, essays, more organic chemistry, writer's block, distractions by new final fantasy games, and other things.
Anyway, this chapter took a while, and it was a bit difficult for me to write.
On a side note, I found out Zack's gonna be in Birth by Sleep, so I want to remind everyone that the Zack in last chapter's omake was an alternate version of Zack. That means that he's a native of Halloween Town and has nothing to do with Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. The Zack in Birth by Sleep will be a completely different person from the Zack in the omake. I just wanted to make that clear in case I manage to continue this story all the way to Birth by Sleep.
I still only own the plot.
-I think my line breaks aren't working...-
The boys were flying through innerspace again. At the moment, Sora and Goofy were piloting while Donald and Aladdin got some sleep.
"I hope we don't have to change our form on the next world," said Sora. "I'm tired of my body having weird appendages."
"Those sorts of worlds are really unusual," said Goofy. "I don't think we'll see any more of them." A random puppy climbed up onto the anthro's lap. Goofy scratched it behind its ears. "We've sure found a lot of these little guys."
"Yeah, I lost count of how many we've found. How'd two dogs manage to have so many puppies anyway?" Sora took a moment to shoot at some Heartless ships. It was nice that there were fewer ships in this area. It was making it much easier to travel. "I hope we find some sort of clue in this next world…" Then the alarm went off, waking up Donald and Aladdin.
"There's a really big ship approaching!" said Chip. As soon as he said this, the large ship went flying past them.
"That's not a gummi ship," said Sora, staring.
"I think it's a pirate ship," said Goofy. Indeed, it was flying a black flag with a skull and crossbones on it and looked to be an old wooden ship of some kind. None of them were expecting to see something like that.
"Quit gawking! It's turning back around!" shouted Donald. The ship was coming right back at them. For such a large ship, it moved quickly. Sora quickly turned the gummi ship. Actually, he managed to avoid the larger ship when he turned. It's just that the gummi ship wasn't fast enough to outrun the pirate ship, and they got rammed. The gummi ship puttered to a stop.
"That other ship just damaged the thrusters!" shouted Dale. Then a loud clang came from the roof. A second later, several pirates came in.
"All right. You lot come with us, and we won't have to bust you up." The speaker was promptly stabbed in the chest by Sora. The pirate's eyes widened for a moment before he slumped over onto the floor. Sora gave the rest of the pirates a creepy grin.
"Anyone else wanna try?" The pirates looked at their fallen companion and promptly left. "That should scare them off."
"What about him?" asked Aladdin.
"I stabbed him in the heart. We should get rid of the body before it starts to smell bad." Some more noises came from the roof. Sora frowned and looked up. "Are they still there?" Then several Heartless in pirate clothes came into the cockpit. The boys were understandably surprised. "Pirate…How unoriginal. Sometimes stumble due to their own attack…sounds pretty weak." Sora killed a couple of Heartless. Another two came in to replace them. The Tsviet twitched. "Just great…" He wasn't going to give up without a fight. He started attacking the Heartless that came in. The only reason the others didn't help was because the cockpit was very small and there wasn't much room to fight. Sora was on his own for the moment. It didn't seem to be much of a problem though. He was good at killing Heartless. However, a dark portal formed under him, and he fell through it. The portal closed up before anyone could try to follow him.
"So, we need to take care of them now?" asked Aladdin.
"Better leave it to me," said Donald. "My spells don't need much space to be performed."
Back with Sora, he suddenly found himself on a deck with several pirates and Heartless around him. He smirked. "You're trying to take outnumber me? That's not gonna work." Sora ran forward and slit a pirate's neck. He continued on to a Heartless and quickly sliced it up. The Heartless next to it was dealt with the same way. The pirates took a hint and tried to get as far from Sora as possible. The Heartless kept trying to swarm him, and Sora kept killing them with a somewhat crazed grin on his face. Unfortunately for the pirates, Sora ran out of Heartless and simply moved on to the pirates. Sora was quickly covered in blood from slicing open all the bodies. After a few moments, all the pirates were dead. Sora took a look around and scratched the back of his head. "I got carried away…That hasn't happened in a while…I really gotta work on that…"
"And you said I was killing people." Sora's eyes widened and he spun around. Riku was standing in front of the base of the crow's nest.
"Riku!" Sora growled. "You better not hurt Donald, Goofy, or Aladdin!" Riku scoffed.
"Are they really that important? More important than old friends? Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking…" Riku stepped to the side. Sora's eyes widened. "About her."
"Kairi!" His female friend was leaning against the mast with a listless look on her face. She gave no sign that she'd noticed him or anything else.
"That's right. While you were goofing off, I finally found her." Riku smirked. "I don't think you can call me a hypocrite now, especially since you're the one who abandoned her and just got some new friends." Sora glared at Riku.
"That's not what happened! I just couldn't find her! And you are a hypocrite! You're working with the people who put her in this condition in the first place!" Riku narrowed his eyes. What came out of his mouth was the last thing Sora expected to hear.
"Chocobo butt." Sora twitched slightly at the old insult.
"Old man!"
"Fish eyes!"
"Paopu freak!"
"Mama's boy!"
"Kimihiro's a guy you balloon-pants wearing masochist!"
"You haven't grown up at all," said Riku.
"You were the one who started the name calling!"
"Still, at least I didn't kill anyone."
"Hey, I don't kill anyone if they don't threaten me. These guys are pirates. The plunder and kill for a living. Besides, it's not like they're going to turn into a Heartless. They're just dead."
"…You have weird logic." The two stared at each other for a second. Then Sora twirled his daggers, went into Valor form, and dashed towards Riku. Right before he was close enough to hit Riku, he veered to grab Kairi. Sora was not expecting his own shadow to pop up and block him.
"What the *beep*? !" Riku chuckled. Sora frowned. "What did you do? !"
"I've picked up a few tricks." Riku waved his hand, and several of the Pirate Heartless appeared. Sora looked at the Heartless.
"You've really fallen…You gonna try to kill me now?"
"I haven't decided yet. Guess I'll have to see how I feel when I get Kairi her heart back."
Sora chuckled. "Wow, you really are like him. You're willingly becoming a monster simply so you can gain power." Riku's eyebrow twitched at being called a monster.
"Shut up!" Then the piece of floor under Sora disappeared, and the brunette fell through the hole. The boards reappeared before he could try to get out. Riku glowered and glared at Sora's shadow. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."
"The crew!" Riku turned to look at a stout man with a stocking cap and a striped shirt.
"Oh, Smee, so you were smart enough to stay in the cabin."
"What happened to them? !"
"I warned you that Sora was willing to kill people. They doomed themselves the moment they decided to take him on." Smee wrung his hands a bit before running and knocking on a door.
"Captain! It's terrible! The entire crew! They've been slaughtered!" The door opened and Captain Hook came out. He took a look at the bodies.
"Those idiots couldn't even take out a brat? Worthless the whole lot of them!"
"But Captain, now it's only the two of us."
"Oh, stop you're sniveling. The Heartless are much more useful." Hook summoned several Pirates and turned to the them. "You lot clean up that mess!" The Heartless jumped and ran over to the bodies. "And you!" He turned to Riku. "This is my ship, so I suggest you stop acting like you're in charge."
"Whatever. As long as Sora doesn't get near Kairi, I don't care."
Meanwhile, down in the hold…
"You don't say?" asked Goofy.
"Yeah, it was definitely Kairi. I finally found her."
"Too bad your friend isn't happy to see you," muttered Aladdin. He still doesn't like Riku.
"Yeah, that's true," mused Sora. "I'll just have to find some way to get Kairi away from him…and get my shadow back…" His shadow was still missing. It was probably running around the ship somewhere.
"Sounds great," said Donald. "Now how 'bout getting off me? !" Everyone was in a pile with Donald at the bottom. Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin had been tossed in the hold by some Pirate Heartless. Before they could untangle themselves, Sora had fallen in. Everyone quickly untangled themselves and stood up, making sure nothing was broken.
"So, now what?" asked Aladdin.
"The wood seems normal," said Sora. "We could probably burn a hole in the wall."
"What if that spreads to the rest of the ship?" asked Goofy.
"Everyone would get burnt to a crisp…" Sora sighed. "Guess we need to find another…way…out…" Sora trailed off as he noticed a boy in green floating near the ceiling. Yeah, he knows several people who can fly, but he's aware that most people can't fly so seeing someone who can still surprises him.
"Sora? You okay?" asked Aladdin. The floating boy grinned.
"How ya doin' there?" The other three off-worlders jumped and spun around to see who said that. Their mouths dropped open when they saw who said it. "Looking for a way out?"
"Who're you?" asked Goofy. The boy jabbed his thumb at his chest in a proud manner.
"I'm the answer to your prayers!" The others, sans Goofy, gave him skeptical looks. The boy huffed. "Okay then. Fine. Have it your way."
"Aren't you stuck here too?" asked Aladdin.
The boy shook his head. "No, I'm just waiting for someone." As soon as he said this, a glowing ball of light suddenly came down from the ceiling and started circling him. "Tinker bell! What took you so long?" The ball of light made a tinkling sound. This didn't mean anything to the grounded people, but it seemed to mean something to the boy. "Great job, so you found Wendy?" The ball made more tinkling sounds, which made the boy blink. "Hold on. There was another girl there, too?" A bobbing motion, along with more tinkling. "Are you crazy? ! There's no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there!" The ball gave a distinct impression of being annoyed and displeased. Donald snickered.
"Sounds like somebody's jealous!" The ball of light froze for a second, flew down right in front of Donald, revealing that it was a fairy in a small green dress, and kicked him in the bill. Then she flew back up to the boy while Donald shook his head to clear it. The boy snickered a bit at Donald's misfortune.
"Well, come on Tink. Open the door." Tinkerbell flew down to the door (It was bolted on the other side, which was the only reason Sora hadn't tried opening it.) and started doing something. Sora cleared his throat slightly.
"I'm Sora, and these three are Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin. Who're you?"
"Huh? Formal aren't you? I'm Peter Pan."
"How 'bout a truce until we find those girls Tinker bell was talking about?" Peter shrugged.
"Sure, I don't care." At that point, the door slowly swung open and Tinker bell flew through the door. "Great, she got it! Let's get out of here!" She quickly went back out. There were more of the Pirate Heartless outside. Sora quickly beheaded the one closest to him. Donald cast a Blizzara on a couple of nearby Heartless. Goofy started bashing any that tried to get close to the group. Aladdin and Sora attacked any that got past Goofy. Peter's fighting style was…a bit different. He went zooming up to Hearltess, stabbed them several times with a knife, and flew out of their range when they tried to attack him. It was sort of like the Gargoyles from Halloween town. It didn't take more than a few minutes to get rid of the Heartless.
"Well, it's pretty likely that they know we escaped now," said Sora. "We should be careful how we proceed."
"Eh, you worry too much." Peter took a quick look around and flew over to a door. It took a moment for the others to climb/jump over to where he was. "Sheesh, you guys sure are slow."
"It's because you have less obstacles to get by when you can fly," said Sora.
"How are you flying anyway?" asked Aladdin. "Are you a djinn or something?" Sora snickered while Peter gave Aladdin a confused look.
"A what? I'm just using pixie dust. Anyone can fly with it. I'll show ya." He turned over to Tinkerbell. "Hey, Tink, come over here." She sniffed, turned her back to him, and crossed her arms. "Aw, you haven't cooled off yet? Come on, just give them a little pixie dust. We'll get out of here quicker that way." For a moment, it looked like Tinkerbell was considering not doing it so that it would take them longer to rescue Wendy. Then she started flying over the four grounded boys, sprinkling them with a sparkling gold powder. Peter nodded his head with a smile. "There, now you can fly." Donald promptly tried to fly by flapping his arms (or were they wings?) and landed on his face. Tinkerbell pointed and laughed.
"Okay…" Sora decided to try this later, mostly because his only experience with flying was a prank Ash pulled on him when he was 8. "We better hurry up. I don't wanna miss them…"
Speaking of them, Riku was relaying some information to Captain Hook from Maleficient. "What do you mean Wendy's not one of the chosen ones? !" He seemed upset by it. Riku shrugged.
"There are seven, supposedly, and Maleficient says she's not one of them. Leave all the dead weight behind, including her."
"After all the trouble of capturing her?" Captain Hook muttered some words under his breath which will not be repeated here. "Why those seven then? What is Maleficient planning to do with them?"
"Who knows? As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less." Hook snorted at Riku's words.
"You're wasting your time. The Heartless have devoured that girl's heart. I'll wager me other hand that it's lost forever."
Riku glared at the pirate captain. "I will find her heart. No matter what…" Fortunately, Smee made an announcement over the tube pipes, which kept an argument from breaking out.
"Uh, captain? The prisoners have escaped. And what's more, Peter Pan is with them."
"What? !" Riku looked on in amusement as the pirate captain proceeded to lose his temper. "Blast that Peter Pan!" He took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. "Alright then. Bring the hostage to me cabin. Hop to it Smee!"
Back with Sora's group, they'd made it to the galley. There were a lot a Shadows running around, and the boys were busy trying to get rid of them.
"You know, I think these Heartless are spawning continuously," said Sora.
"I think you're right," said Donald. "I just saw a couple pop up."
"Maybe we should just go ahead and leave," said Aladdin. Sora nodded. No reason to exhaust themselves here.
"Uh, which way did we come in from?" asked Goofy. Peter jerked his thumb at one of the entrances.
"It was that one." The boys quickly left through the other way in. The Shadows didn't follow, but there were some more Pirates lurking in that hold that they had to take care of before they could do much of anything. "Is that?" Sora looked around. "It is!" Sora ran over to a side room. The others followed him cautiously.
"Hey, what are you doing in there?" asked Peter. "It's just a room. We can't go anywhere from here."
"I felt Kairi's aura from over here," explained Sora. "That means she's nearby."
"Peter?" Everyone looked up through some slats to see a girl in a blue dress looking down at them. Peter's face lit up.
"Wendy! There you are. You hold on. We'll be up there in no time!"
"Hurry, the pirates are coming!"
"No worries! I'll be up there in no time!"
"Hey, Wendy? Is there another girl up there?" asked Sora. Wendy's eyes widened when she saw the blood-covered boy.
"Why are you…" She gulped and looked off to the side. "Well, yes, but she hasn't moved at all. I thought she was asleep, but her eyes are open…" Sora quickly positioned himself so that he was looking in the same direction as Wendy. He couldn't see much, but he did see the fabric of Kairi's skirt, so she must be up there.
"Kairi! Can you hear me? It's me! Sora!" At first it didn't look like she was going to respond, but her hand fell on the slats and a couple of the fingers twitched. Sora grinned happily. It wasn't much of a response, but it was still a response, and that was good. Then there was a gasp from Wendy and someone or something started dragging Kairi away. Sora wasn't going to have this though. He jumped through the slats and landed in the room just in time to see Riku start disappearing into a dark portal with Kairi. Sora sprinted towards them, but his shadow popped up and blocked the way. "Out of my way!" Sora fired a Fire point blank at his shadow's face. It knocked it back a bit, but it was too late. Riku and Kairi were gone. Sora yelled in anger just as his shadow bounced back at him. Sora was angry though. He wanted to take that anger out on anything, and his shadow would do just fine. Sora swung a knife at its neck at the same time it tried to stab him in the neck. Both blocked. Both went low and tried to sever the other's tendons. Both managed to dodge. Sora growled and quickly switched to the Keyblade and started attacking as quickly as he could. "I don't have time for this!" Head, liver, neck, heart, lungs, stomach…the shadow was blocking them all, but it wasn't able to counterattack, which was a good thing. Then a Blizzara hit it in the head, which knocked it off balance just enough for Sora to stab it through the neck and swing the Keyblade upward. The shadow twitched, dissolved into darkness, and reattached itself to Sora's feet. Sora quickly ran out the door. From where he'd shot the Blizarra, Donald huffed.
"What about us?"
"Just help us up there!" shouted Aladdin. The two taller ones, helped Donald get out of the hole. Donald reached down the hole and, with some difficulty, pulled Goofy up through it. Then both pulled Aladdin up through the hole. "What's up with that guy?"
"I bet it's probably 'cause he found Kairi but Riku took her away," said Goofy. "Sora lost her again…"
"I can understand that," said Aladdin, looking down. Then he frowned and looked around. "Hey, what happened to the other guy?" Seems Peter disappeared on them. Well, he had found Wendy.
"Forget him. We better find Sora before he does something dangerous," muttered Donald. These three chose a direction and walked in that direction in hopes of finding Sora.
Sora, meanwhile, was dashing towards the deck. When he reached it, he panted a few times before he yelled out of frustration and punched the deck, shattering the wood and making a large hole.
"You little brat!" shouted Hook. "How dare you damage my ship! That boy just had to leave when you were angry." Sora glared at Hook and turned toward him. "Not another step boy." He pulled out a lantern with a familiar pixie in it. "Or your little friend dies." Sora stopped and frowned.
"Huh? Why did I stop? She's no friend of mine. I don't care what happens to her. So why…?" Sora huffed. "I'm much faster than him. I'll get to him before he can do anything." At that thought, several Pirate Heartless popped up between the two.
"I'm not stupid brat. I know how quickly you can move." Sora swore. "Now, then, tie him up!" Several minutes later, Sora had his hands tied behind his back and was standing in front of the gangplank.
"Hand over the Keyblade, and I'll spare your lives. Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the Heartless. So, which will it be? The Keyblade or the plank?" Sora gave him a disbelieving look.
"You actually expect me to believe that after I killed your crew?"
"Then ye'll be walking the plank?" Sora was about to answer, but paused as his hearing picked up an odd noise.
"What's that noise?"
"Hm?" Sora strained a bit to try and figure out what he was hearing.
"For some reason, I suddenly heard a clock." Hook got a terrified look on his face. "What?"
"It's him! The crocodile that took me hand!" Sora blinked at this and peered over the side of the boat. A crocodile looked up at him, licking its lips.
"Crocodiles can live in the sea?" Hook backed away to the mast quicker than Sora had seen him move before.
"Oh, I can't stay here! Smee! You take care of it and then get us out of here! I can't stand the sight of it!" The pirate captain hung Tinkerbell's lantern on a nail and ran into his cabin. Sora sweatdropped at Hook's reaction. Then again, if this was how he lost his hand, the fear wasn't completely unfounded, but why not shoot it or something?
"Of course, Captain." Smee ambled forward. Sora briefly wondered why this guy was a pirate. "Do you have any last words?"
"You guys are a bunch of wusses."
"Well, if that's how you feel…" Smee quickly started prodding Sora down the plank with a cutlass.
"You better be thankful Tinkerbell," muttered Sora. He took a look at the crocodile. Its jaws were wide open. Well, if he can bring his hands over his head, he might be able to jam them with his Keyblade…
"Sora!" Sora blinked. "Fly Sora! Just believe and you can do it!"
"Peter?" Sora looked down at the crocodile and thought about the flying. Well, why not? "I can fly. I can fly. I can fly." He suddenly thought of Ash, Kimihiro, and Nero. His family. Then he stepped off the plank. Time seemed to slow down as Sora got closer to the crocodile's mouth. Then he zoomed upward just as the crocodile snapped its mouth shut. "I'm flying!" Smee was shocked too. Then Peter flew down and opened Tinkerbell's lantern.
"Thanks Sora!" He flew over and quickly cut through the ropes binding Sora's wrists together. Sora rubbed his wrists and raised an eyebrow at Peter.
"You're still here?"
"What? You thought I'd leave you and Tink here? I just went to get some backup." As soon as Peter said that, several boys dressed as animals and a couple in pajamas came climbing up over the sides of the ship. Smee looked around in a panic, took out a whistle, and blew it. Several Heartless popped up, Pirates, pirates with wings, and pirates fused with ships.
"Sky Pirates, not that dangerous, strong punches. Battleships, charging attacks, homing energy attacks, bombs, parts of it can be destroyed." Sora looked around at his temporary allies. They were all children. "Should I? I already used a drive today. Well, I can't just let these kids fight a bunch of Heartless. They could get hurt. I can't believe I'm thinking like this." Sora transformed into his Wisdom drive and used Gravity to ground some of the flying Heartless. "Huh, it seems stronger than before…I'll worry later." Sora started shooting magic at the Heartless that hadn't been caught by the Gravira. One of the Sky Pirates swung its fist at him, and Sora glided to the side. "Flying's easier than I thought." He hit the sky pirate with a Fira spell and shot it in the head. He spun around and started shooting any Heartless he saw in the head. Then a fireball hit one of the battleships.
"Wow, what did you do Sora?" asked Aladdin.
"Are you flying? !" shouted Donald.
"I'll explain later! There are kids here! Make sure they don't get hurt!"
"Ah, don't worry. They can take care of themselves," said Peter.
"Just being safe!" Sora shot another Heartless in the head. He then used a Thundara spell to stun the flying enemies and whipped up a whirlwind with an Aero spell to gather them in one spot. "Hey, my Aero spell is stronger too…" Sora used Gravira to ground the stunned Heartless. The boys on the ship deck quickly finished them off using daggers.
"I think that's the last of them," said Aladdin. The boys jumped Smee and tied him up.
"We still have to deal with Hook," pointed out Sora, he was starting to breath heavily. "I can't maintain this form much longer."
"I'll take care of that," said Peter. He flew down to the door to the cabin and knocked on it.
"Is that you Smee? Did you finish him off?" Peter snickered before talking in a perfect imitation of Smee's voice.
"Aye Captain. He walked the plank. No problems." Several of the boys snickered.
"Good to hear. Is the crocodile gone?"
"Aye!"
"Well, I'll come back out then." Everyone hid as Hook came out. He looked around in confusion for a second before Peter snuck up on him from behind and poked him in the shoulder with his dagger. Hook jumped a good foot in the air while all the boys broke out laughing. Hook growled and spun to glare at Peter.
"P-Peter Pa-blast you!"
"Ready to make a splash, you old codfish? Now it's your turn to walk the plank!"
"I like that plan," agreed Sora.
"I'll not fall so easily!" Hook summoned several more Heartless. Sora and the Lost Boys flew up to take care of the flying Heartless. Goofy, Donald, and Aladdin focused on the ground-bound Heartless. Peter was the one fighting Hook.
"C'mon you old codfish! Can't you do any better?"
"Don't you taunt me boy!" Hook summoned even more Heartless.
"Will you stop egging him on? !" shouted Donald.
"If he summons too many of these, one of those kids could get hurt!" shouted Sora. As soon as he said that, the boy in the rabbit outfit got hit bomb. Sora used a quick Cura (The spell seemed to be permanently strengthened so he assumed that it was upgraded.) to heal the boy. He started shooting at the various Heartless again. This was difficult because Sora had to be careful not to hit any of the Lost Boys this time around. He also had to avoid using his more destructive magic because of this. Another Heartless popped up in front of him. Sora twitched badly. "Screw this!" Sora took a good look, found where Hook was, took aim, and fired a Fira spell as soon as Peter was a safe distance away. It caused enough of an explosion to knock Hook over to the side of the ship. He flailed his arms a bit as he tried to regain his balance.
*Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock*
Hook's eyes widened as he realized that the crocodile was below him. Peter grinned, floated over, and poked Hook in the forehead. It was enough to send him over the edge. Hook screamed and fell right into the crocodile's mouth, which snapped shut. Then it snapped back open as Hook propped it open with his legs in a desperate bid to escape. This resulted in Hook getting shot out when the crocodile snapped its mouth shut and skipping across the water a few times just in time for Smee (When had he gotten untied?) to reach him with a rowboat. Hook pulled himself in while Smee kept rowing and the crocodile gave chase. It looked sort of like a cartoon…Now to take care of the Heartless. They were attacking more randomly and there weren't any more appearing now so they weren't that difficult to finish off.
Sora fell down onto the deck as he changed back to normal. "Sora? Are you okay?" asked Goofy.
"I'm just tired from using the drive twice in such a short amount of time. Give me a little time, and I'll be fine." And then he fell asleep. Goofy scratched his head.
"Gawrsh, he must be really tired…"
"Huh? Sora's sleeping at a time like this?" asked Peter.
"This is kind of weird," said Aladdin. "Have either of you ever seen him fall asleep like this?" Donald crossed his arms and shook his head.
"Nope."
"Hey, he looks a bit more like a kid like this," said Goofy.
"Why wouldn't he look like a kid?" asked Peter. "He is a kid." Aladdin winced as he thought of some of the stuff he'd seen Sora do during the short amount of time he'd known the kid.
"Uh, that's a bit difficult to explain…" Fortunately, the three were spared from having to explain by Tinkerbell suddenly flying up to him.
"Tink? What is it?" Tinkerbell said something that only Peter could understand. "There's something at the clocktower? Well, let's go check it out. We can bring everyone with us too!" Tinkerbell nodded and flew around the ship sprinkling pixie dust everywhere. The ship started to lift out of the water.
"The ship is flying? !" asked Aladdin. Peter grinned
"Yep! Pixie dust works on anything!"
"Where's the clock tower?" asked Donald. "I don't see a clock tower."
"That's because it's in London," said a little boy with a teddy bear.
"It's called Big Ben," said another boy with glasses, a top hat, and an umbrella. "You can see it from anywhere in London."
"Is that where you're from?" asked Goofy.
"Yes, Peter brought us here because we didn't want Wendy to grow up," explained the boy in the top hat.
"Dad said she had to grow up," added the boy with the teddy bear.
"They changed their mind and decided they wanted to go home though," muttered Peter, crossing his arms. "I don't like it, but if they're gonna be unhappy here, I'll take them back." Peter flew off. He seemed a bit upset about the kids' decision. Aladdin blinked a bit as he thought about what they said. He turned to the boy in the top hat.
"Is Wendy your sister?"
"Yes, I'm John," said the boy with the top hat. "And this is Michael."
"Why would you come here if you didn't want Wendy to grow up?" asked Aladdin.
"In Neverland, nothing changes, people never get older, so you don't have to grow up," explained John.
"I miss Mommy and Daddy," said Michael.
"Well, I hope things go well for you," said Aladdin.
"Is your friend all right?" asked John. "He doesn't look at all well." The three off-worlders took a glance at Sora, who was still sleeping…and covered in blood. John probably thought some of it was Sora's.
"Ah, he'll be fine," said Donald. "He's not gonna die from this after everything else that's happened."
"You have a point there," said Aladdin.
"Hey, do you guys want to help us see if the pirates kept anything good in here?" asked the boy in the bear skin.
"I bet they have treasure!" added the boy in the rabbit costume.
"Sure!" said Aladdin. That was more his style. He followed the lost boys into the ship's hold. Goofy grinned.
"Ahyuk, we didn't get a chance to look around. I wonder if they'll find anything interesting."
"Who knows…" muttered Donald. The two glanced at Sora before walking over and sitting down on either side of him. It would probably be a while before they got to London if they had to fly there. Might as well get some rest.
Later, they reached London. "It looks sort of like Traverse Town, only taller buildings," observed Aladdin.
Meanwhile, Goofy was trying to get the lost boys to give up one of the treasures they found. "C'mon now, their parents are worried sick about them. We need to take them back home."
"But there's 12 of them! Can't you let us keep some?"
"We need to take them back to our town," said Donald. "Mainly because they don't belong in this world."
"Why don't we let them decide?" asked the boy in the skunk costume.
"What do you mean?" asked the raccoon twins
"Let them decide who to go with. It should be fair."
"Okay!" The boy in the rabbit costume turned towards the Dalmatian puppies that were being petted by the lost boys. "Let's back off so they can choose!" The lost boys, Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin backed off, giving the puppies a wide berth. The puppies made a whimpering sound as the boys did this. They looked around for a second before zeroing in on Sora, who was still sleeping. The made a beeline for him and promptly started climbing all over him.
"Huh, they all went straight to Sora," said Goofy. The lost boys groaned. They'd really wanted a puppy.
"How is he sleeping through that?" asked Aladdin. Sora wasn't even stirring, which was odd considering how the boy always sensed attacks before anyone else. You'd think he'd be a light sleeper. "And what were a bunch of puppies doing on a pirate ship anyway?"
"It's broken!" Everyone looked over at John. "Big Ben! One of the clocks is broken!" He pointed at the clock faces. From the ship's position, everyone could see two of the clock's faces. One said 12 'o clock. The other one said 3 'o clock. Something was obviously wrong with the clock.
"We need to fix it!" said John.
"How?" asked Aladdin.
"If we can move the hand to the correct position, maybe it'll start up again," said John.
"Sora?" Goofy shook the young Tsviet. Sora yawned and opened his eyes blearily and looked down when he felt that something was climbing over him.
"Why am I covered in puppies?"
"Sir, do you think you could fix Big Ben?" asked John. Sora blinked.
"Who?" John pointed at the clock. "Oh…" He yawned. "Okay, I feel a bit better." Sora floated up and looked at three faces to figure out what the correct time was. He spent a moment looking at the hour hand he needed to move and decided his knives were too small and he'd have to use the Keyblade. He then hit the hour hand at three 'o clock until it was at twelve 'o clock. Before he could go back to the ship, the clock face started glowing. Sora blinked again. The glow disappeared, leaving behind a keyhole where the hour hand was before. "That's a weird place for a keyhole. Oh well, at least that was easy." Sora pointed the Keyblade at it, a beam of light came out, a clicking sound was heard, and the keyhole disappeared. He promptly flew down to the ship and went back to sleep.
"Huh, that was weird," said Peter. Wendy coughed.
"Peter could I talk to you before we leave?"
"Sure!" The two went over to the ledge. Wendy walked along it while Peter floated next to her.
"You and the lost boys are really going back to Neverland then?"
"Yeah, you can come back though! It's not too late!" Wendy smiled sadly and shook her head.
"I can't. I'd miss my home too much, and my parents will worry sick if they come home and we're not there." Peter sighed.
"Well, it's your choice. But we can see each other any time! As long as you, John, and Michael don't forget about Neverland, that is." Wendy giggled.
"I don't think it will be possible for us to ever forget!"
"That's great! C'mon, Tink and I will take you home now." Peter turned towards the ship. "I'll be right back! You can go ahead back to Neverland if you get bored though! Oh, and before I forget…" Peter flew over to Sora and quickly braided a feather into his hair. "To surprise him when he wakes up."
"Peter, you're the bravest man I know," said Aladdin. Really, Sora wasn't going to be happy about the feather. Peter just laughed, got Tinkerbell to shower the Darling children with pixie dust, and then they flew off.
"Goofy, help me with Sora," said Donald.
"Sure thing!" The two managed to pick up Sora. The fact that he was managing to sleep through it was pretty shocking.
"Are we leaving?" asked Aladdin.
"Yeah, look over there." Donald pointed towards one of the corners of the ledges. There was a glowing green circle there.
"Guess we better be going then," said Aladdin.
"Bye guys!" said Goofy, waving at the lost boys. They waved back. Then the three conscious travelers managed to drag Sora and the puppies over to the circle and made it back to the gummi ship. They buckled Sora into a seat and then gathered around to look at the Ansem report Aladdin had found while exploring the ship with the lost boys.
"'Simply Astonishing! Today I had a guest from another world. He is a king, and his vessel is built of the material that composed the meteors. He called the pieces "gummi blocks". It seemed that my opening the door has opened a path to interworld travel.
"'We talked for countless hours, but one story in particular caught my interest: that of a key called the "Keyblade". The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power.
"'One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it. I must know what this Keyblade is.
"'A key opens doors. It must be connected to the door I have opened.'"
"He must be talking about His Majesty!" exclaimed Donald.
"You think?" asked Aladdin.
"Yep, not many worlds had gummi ships before the Heartless, and His Majesty used them a lot to check on the condition of the worlds," explained Goofy. "I guess the king knew Ansem."
"He never mentioned him before," mused Donald.
"The legend sort of sounds familiar," said Aladdin.
"It sounds like what King Triton said before," said Goofy. "I guess he heard it too."
"By the way, what's this? I found it at the clock tower." Aladdin held up a navi-gummi. Goofy's face lit up.
"That's a navi-gummi!"
"Great, we're at a dead end," said Donald. It was true. The ship didn't have any more paths for them to follow. Aladdin blinked in confusion
"Huh?"
"We'll explain on the way back to Traverse Town. We can get Cid to install it there."
So they fired up the engines and started back towards Traverse Town.
Meanwhile, Riku was kneeling next to Kairi and panting heavily. Maleficient looked at him with an unreadable expression. "It was reckless to bring her here without at least using a vessel. Remember, relying too heavily on the darkness could cost your heart." A loud roar was heard in the background. Riku quickly stood up and looked over his shoulder in the direction the roar came from.
"What was that?"
"A castaway. Though his world perished, his heart did not. When we took the princess from his castle, he apparently followed her here through sheer force of will. But fear not. No harm will come to you. He is no match for your power." Riku raised an eyebrow.
"My power?"
"Yes, the untapped power that lies within you. Now child, it's time you awakened that power and realized your full potential." Maleficient raised her eyes as a green and black flame-like aura surrounded Riku. He suddenly felt much better and more powerful.
Riku didn't realize it, but he was going to come to regret this very soon.
-my line breaks don't seem to be working…-
Well, that's it for now. Probably not one of my better chapters, but I've had a long semester. Things should be picking up after the next chapter or so, hopefully.
Yes, Sora killed all of Captain Hook's pirates. He's a Tsviet. He'll kill anyone who he considers an enemy or a threat. Look at some of the massacres the Tsviets pulled off in Dirge of Cerberus. It's not surprising that Sora would also be capable of doing this, even if he is one of the nicer Tsviets.
Can you figure out the origins of the insults?
Kimihiro is considered the 'mother' of the Tsviet family because he's the only one who has anything that can be considered parental instincts…and he's the only one who knows how to cook.
The reason Ash, Kimihiro, and Nero were the first ones Sora thought of when he was trying to fly is because they can also fly.
Sora did not get Tinkerbell as a summon due to sleeping for almost the entire time he was in London.
Omake: Luffy's New First Mate
As you all know, one of Sora's fellow Tsviets is Zoro. As most of you are aware, he was supposed to be the first mate of the Straw Hat Pirate Crew. Instead, he ended up below Midgar in a private army that was trained to kill without any kind of mercy. Zoro would have been a very powerful and integral part of the crew though. A suitable replacement was needed in that world. Someone who was stronger than most people. Someone willing to work with Luffy. Someone willing to risk their lives for their nakama. Someone with green hair.
"Hi, I'm Luffy. Will you join my pirate crew?" Terra stared at the young man standing in front of her. She wasn't sure if he was being serious or not.
"Uh, no thank you. I don't really have any interest in pillaging villages or murdering people or anything like that."
"Please? I'll cut you down from there." Terra looked at her arms, which were tied to wooden posts. Really, she could have burned the rope away, no problem, but if she did, that little girl and her family would get in trouble.
"That's okay. I'll be released in a few days. Then I can leave. Go find someone else." Luffy frowned.
"No, I've decided that you're going to be on my crew." Terra sweatdropped. Not for the first time, she wondered how she'd ended up on this crazy world. She decided to blame it on Kefka again. It wouldn't be that surprising if he was somehow responsible.
"I won't join your crew. I refuse to kill or hurt any innocents ever again!"
"Okay, that's good." Terra blinked. "If I beat up the guy who tied you up, will you join my crew?"
"If you can find a way to resolve all the problems Axe Hand Morgan's caused, I might consider joining your crew."
"Okay, great!" Then he went running into the Marine base. Terra sweatdropped.
"He's really impulsive…" Of course, since it's Luffy, the town was saved and Terra became his first mate. When Luffy wants someone on his crew, they join his crew.