Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.30 Dreams
As I returned to Sora, Ariel and the others, Ariel said "Hey, why don't you come to my grotto? I want to show you something." "Sure, why not?" Sora said. Donald and Goofy nodded and I shrugged, so we began swimming. While on the way I swam up next to Ariel, and said "Can I ask you a question?" "Sure," she replied, and I asked "I've been hearing about someone called Ursula. Can you tell me who that is?" Ariel frowned, before saying "That's not something we talk about a lot. Basically, Ursula lived here in the palace, but then she became a sea witch. Because of that, Daddy banished her from here." I frowned as well, and while we kept swimming I was also thinking.
According to Triton, the Heartless we were coming the grotto where Ursula now lived. And if she had any control over darkness at her command, like the kind a sea witch would... We reached the grotto and I thought that we would probably have to deal with this sooner or later. Either way, it didn't need worrying at this moment. Once we swam inside, I gasped and looked around. Objects, human objects, were covering every shelf and available space, all the way up to a hole in the top that shined a bright light through. "Whoa..." Sora muttered, and I nodded. "Look at all this stuff!" Donald said, picking up a jack-in-the-box. Before I could warn him though, it went off and he shouted, fumbling back through the water.
Goofy, Flounder and Sora laughed and Ariel let out a giggle, while even I was struggling to contain a smile. "So, this is all from the human world?" I asked. Ariel nodded. "Yeah. Me and Flounder collected all of these things," she said. "Aren't they cool?" Flounder said, looking at a chest full of doubloons. Donald huffed and crossed his arms. "I don't know about that," he said. I chuckled, and said "So, you're fascinated with the outside world?" Ariel nodded, and her eyes shined bright. "Someday, I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds," she declared. There was a moment of silence, and then she looked back at us. "Does that sound strange?" she asked worriedly.
Both Sora and I shook our heads. "No. Not at all. I used to feel the same way," Sora said. I blinked and looked at him. "Used to?" Ariel and I asked at the same time. "I mean... I still do," he amended. I frowned again; I hadn't taken notice until now, but going through the worlds did seem to be having an effect on Sora. Seeing his dreams come true must be nice, but there was also what was going on with Riku and Kairi, particularly Riku. I could relate- seeing a friend not act like themselves was hurtful. I remembered how sad Ven had been on our journey when it had been our Master's orders that we take him home. The hurt in his expression... I was snapped out of my thoughts by Ariel saying "Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole you were talking about?"
"But your father said-" I began, before she waved it away. "Oh, he treats me like a little girl. He never let me do anything. He just... He just doesn't understand," she said. I heard a gasp behind, and when I turned around I could have sworn that there was a flash of red. But when I looked again, nothing was out of the ordinary. "My eyes are finally starting to play tricks on me," I muttered, turning back to the group. Only to find that they were already leaving. "H-Hey! Wait up!" I said, swimming after them. We left the grotto and began searching around, almost immediately finding a treasure Chest wedge into a wall, with a hole in the bottom. "It looks like there's a place beyond it," Goofy said, swimming through.
We followed and saw that beyond was a huge open area with a sunken ship in the middle. "Oh, wow!" Ariel said, swimming towards it with us behind her. But then I sensed something approach, and I called "Wait! Don't move!" Ariel did and looked back, wondering why I had yelled. The others were as well, and said "What's the problem?" I was silent, for the presence I had felt had stopped moving as well. But when I moved forward it did so as well, and I realized that I was sensing something above us. Slowly, very slowly, I turned and looked up, finding myself staring right into the face of a massive shark. I gulped, and the others followed my line of sight. Then Flounder yelled "SHARK!" and it shot forward. I dodged it and summoned my Keyblade, while Ariel moved again and swam back to us.
"What's it doing here?" she asked, readying a Thunder spell in case she needed it. "Probably heard us coming and got hungry. Of any sharks of I've seen, this looks like the first non-friendly one," I said. As if to prove my point it turned around and swam back at us, causing us to scatter as it sped past. "We need to separate! That way it can't come after all of us at once!" Sora said. I nodded, as did the others, and we spread to spread across the edge of the area. The shark turned around and looked at us all, trying to decide which one of us it would try to eat first. Then it looked at me and decided that I would do, and swam forward. It opened its mouth and I froze, seeing what light there was glint off of countless teeth. Then it reached me... and I swerved to the side, moving so that the shark could crash into the wall.
It made a sound of surprise and I smiled, using Blitz to hit it hard three times before I moved back. Donald and Ariel both cast Thunder, zapping it with twice the voltage before it managed to free itself, glaring at me. But instead of attack me, it turned to Sora and chased after him. He shouted and turned around, swimming away. "Come on, Sora! Faster!" Goofy urged. I did the same, but I saw that the shark was still gaining on him. It got closer, and closer, and then suddenly Sora flipped over and cast Aero, focusing the spell to only surround his Keyblade. "Take this!" he said, and threw it. The blade spun through the water and hit the beast in the eye, and then Sora directed the wind to bring the Keyblade back around for another hit.
He did this two more times before bringing the Keyblade back to him. I watched with shock, amazed. Sora had just used an improvised Wind Raid attack. It wasn't nearly as powerful, nor did it last as long, but the basics of the move were still there. "And here I thought it would take a while before he became that strong..." I said to myself. Sora swam back to where he was and cast Blizzara, hitting the shark on the side with a chunk of ice. It looked at him with a glare of hatred, one eye shut but the other still fine. It moved forward at Goofy, but this time I could tell it wasn't to eat. Now it was poised to kill. Goofy shouted and rolled to the side, but the shark turned and whipped at him with its tail.
The hit collided and sent Goofy tumbling through the water until he hit the wall, groaning in pain. "Goofy! Are you alright?" Donald said, casting Cure on him. He groaned and looked at him, saying "Uh, Donald? Why are there three of you?" Donald looked at him for a second, until I said "He must have taken a hit to the head. Here!" I said, holding up my Stormfell. "Curaga!" I called, and Goofy was enveloped in bright green light. When it faded he blinked, before sighing and saying "That's better. Thanks, Dexal!" I nodded, before turning back to the shark. Having been a mermaid for her whole life rather than a few hours, Ariel was swimming quickly enough to stay ahead of the shark, looking back and cast a series of Thunder and Aero spells.
"Anybody have any ideas on how to get rid of this thing?!" Ariel said, casting Thunder again but just barely hitting the shark. It put on an extra ounce of speed and started closing the distance between the two of them, passing by the hole that the shark had made when it rammed into the wall. Then I got an idea, and said "I got it! Bring it over this way!" Ariel nodded and turned towards us, swimming as fast as she could. "Okay guys, when she get here I'm going to blind the shark and make it crash into the wall again. When it does, I want you to hit the wall with the strongest attacks you have. Got it?" I said, looking at Sora, Donald and Goofy. They all nodded, and I charged for one of the strongest attacks in my arsenal. Ariel neared and I said "Good! Now break off!" She did as I said, and before the shark could go after her I called "Blackout!"
A wave of darkness spread forth and blinded the shark, and it shook its head from side to size before crashing into the wall. Sora and the others went to work, Sora smashing the rocks with his Keyblade, while Donald cast Blizzara and Gravity over and over, Goofy attacked with his shield and Ariel used Spiral Fin. Meanwhile, I raised my Keyblade above my head and waited just a little longer. The shark worked itself free and I called "Hey!" It looked at me and I smiled, before saying "Have a taste of my Meteor Crash!" I swung down and slammed my Keyblade against the not the shark, but the wall. The shark made a sound similar to laughing, and the others all looked at me.
"Uh, Dexal? What exactly was your plan with all of this?" Goofy asked. I smiled despite their disappointment and said "Wait for it." The shark was still looking amused, but then we heard a loud, resounding crack! The shark froze, and that one crack was followed by another, and then countless others. We looked at the wall to see that it was breaking apart, and a fine spider web of cracks was spreading across it. With a crunch a massive rock fell from the top, and the shark swerved to the side to avoid. But another fell, followed by another and then another. The shark kept dodging to avoid them, when with one final crack the whole section came tumbling down.
The shark tried to avoid the landslide but wasn't quick enough, and with a sound of dismay it was buried beneath the rubble. After a few minutes it was over, and I looked at Sora and the others. "Just keep this is mind: No matter how crazy my ideas may seem, there is always a method to my madness," I said. "Duly noted," Sora replied. Ariel giggled before saying "Well, we won't have to worry about it for a moment. Let's go look at the inside of the ship." We all nodded and swam inside, finding a treasure chest below deck. And inside was an actual trident made of crystal. "Whoa! Look at this!" Sora said, picking it up. "Wait a minute. There was a shape like this back in the grotto!" I said, remembering. "Do you think that's where it goes?" Goofy suggested. "Might as well find out," Donald said. And so we turned and began swimming back.
Another chapter has come, and the crystal trident has been found! Can our heroes use it, or will Trident get in the way?
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)