To someone with a lot to do in mind, seven days seemed to be just a few minutes. That was why no one wasted a second. Rachel and Bryan had shared about all the worlds they'd visited and the friends they'd made, as had Sora. Now it was time to see them. Kairi, who had only seen the ruined castle of Hollow Bastion, Traverse Town and The World That Never Was couldn't wait to get going. Travel through the paths between was extremely fast. Normally the siblings didn't travel so quickly. But still, now the islanders had a full appreciation for why all their stuff below deck was bolted down tight. Living on an island, Sora, Riku and Kairi of course had plenty of experience with sea legs and being on boats. Of course being on a space boat was much different than a water one. Zooming through the cosmos at unspeakable speed certainly left for some very wobbly legs. Rachel and Bryan were understandably more used to this method of travel so they looked ready to do ballet while the others had and calves that felt like jelly.
In some worlds many things had changed. In others time seemed to hold no sway. First they retraced Sora's steps after he woke up in Traverse Town. They were all familiar with Traverse Town so they skipped it completely. Everywhere was a thrill. Wonderland hadn't changed at all. They avoided the Queen's court, jumped around the oversized leaves and mushrooms in the forest and lost their senses in the many faces of the Bizarre room. They explored areas Sora had never seen before. the talking flowers would have been amazing if some of them weren't so rude. Deep in the forest a spring and a trickling waterfall seemed to come out of nowhere and funny birds with umbrellas around their necks were playing in the water. At one point they got turned around but the mome wraths were kind enough to point them in the right direction.
Phil, Hercules and Meg were glad to see Sora again. As he would do many times before the adventure was over, he introduced Riku and Kairi, the friends he'd been looking for so long ago. Herc laughed out loud to learn Rachel and Bryan were the ones Herme's chauffeured around all those years ago and was honored to meet them. Herc even convinced them to stay and battle a monster so he could see how other true heroes could fight. Phil was highly impressed with the Masters tag-team skills. But they couldn't stay to battle it out in the coliseum if they were to see all the places they wanted.
Jane was now living in the jungle with Tarzan and they'd made the treehouse their home. Aladdin and Jasmine had gone on many adventures of their own since the last time Sora had visited and announced they finally got engaged. Rachel and Bryan promised that one way or another they'd make sure everyone made it to the wedding. Genie went about his usual antics by showering them with color swaths and asking their opinions about curtain patterns for reception decorations.
Agrabah ended the first day of adventure. The friends boarded the King and let it drift in the space between. There were no Heartless ships to bother them and it there was nothing to run into. Besides, the King seemed to have developed a heart of its own and wouldn't let its passengers drift into danger. Sora and Riku slept in the cottony, comfy hammocks below deck. Rachel offered Kairi a sleeping bag in her cabin.
After breakfast on the second morning, Halloween Town was the next stop. Everyone got a really cool costume. Kairi was a bat witch with a knee-length dress layered with black and dark green lace that looked like spider webs. Her long sleeves were the same lace. She even had little wings like Sora. A shiny black bat broach with yellow jeweled-eyes sat at her collarbone and of course she had a pointy hat.
Riku was a werewolf. His hair looked even more wild and untamed. He wore a gray tank top, a denim jacket with tore off sleeves and faded, ragged jeans. Everything had been torn up like from claw marks. He even had fangs, claws and dog ears (all of which, he confided in Rachel later, were not props).
Bryan was dress like a vampire noble, sweet cape and all. What struck Sora and company as so strange was Bryan's normally bushy, unfairly naturally layered hair had been slicked back and it actually made him look alarmingly handsome. His clothes were unnaturally black with red trimmings and tailored to perfection. Sometimes it takes just the right jacket to make ones shoulders look so broad. And of course his smile revealed an impressive set of fangs.
Rachel looked like the queen of Halloween. She had calf-high boots with black leggings and a dress that went only just above the knee in front then draped and got longer in the back. The sleeves were long and puffy, like peasant sleeves and left her shoulders bare, better to show off the sparkly spider chocker at her throat. Her hair was pulled up and held with a glittery tiara. Its points looked like the fingers of a gnarly old tree.
Jack was thrilled to see Sora again and was impressed by the costumes of his friends. After exploring the spooky courtyard, visiting Dr. Ficklestines lab to say hello to Sally and the good doctor, Sora led his friends deep into the woods outside Halloween town for a surprise.
Exiting through the portal to Christmas town was, as usual, not smooth. The entire group jumped through all at once, which proved to be a big mistake and ended up in a dog pile in the snow.
"Sorry!" Sora groaned under the weight of someone he couldn't see. "I forgot that tends to happen."
Riku aggressively pulled himself away from the group and quickly stood up. Sora was about to apologize again but realized a second before the words left his lips that wasn't Riku's problem. Like everyone else, Riku's clothes had changed. His torn shirt and coat had been replaced with a fine pale blue and white vest with delicately stitched snowflakes and swirls that looked like winter winds. It was the closest to formal attire Sora or Kairi had ever seen him in. He retained his werewolf features much like how Sora kept his fangs and the dark circles around his eyes. With his silver hair and dog ears Riku looked like an artic wolf prince. But he hadn't gotten a shirt so he was left sleeveless in the snow. And being born and raised in a tropical climate did not prepare him for such conditions.
Bryan's outfit hadn't changed much. His fine tailored suit was still black but was now trimmed with holly berry red with gold stitching on the sleeves and collar and made of heavier cloth. His cape had become a gentleman's winter cloak, which he readily offered to Riku (who readily accepted).
Kairi's dress had become a frilly green and red skirt. Her stockings traded in silver spider web patterns for candy cane stripes. The bat broach became a reindeer, the spread wings had turned into spread antlers. Her shoes were now green and although the toes still curled backward to a point, the baubles were golden bells instead of pumpkins. Her pointed witch's hat was now green with holly berry pompoms at the end.
Rachel could have been Jack Frost's sister. The pulled up hairstyle hadn't changed but the tiara looked to be made of icicles. Her dress now reached the ground and was a light sky blue. Her sleeves were snug to the elbow then billowed to the wrist. The neckline, cuffs and hem were trimmed with white fur. There were no adornments except for the frost like silver stitching around the base of the dress. Her choker was now a snowflake.
They explored the delights of Christmas town, looking in shops and riding the carousel before getting to meet the big man himself. Riku got the guilt trip of a lifetime for his lack of belief and how it had been he who once told Sora there was no Santa. They sat for about an hour talking in the warmth of Santa's study. Santa told them that he had to get back to work. Before he did he bestowed upon them one parcel of Christmas sweets each and a present. They could eat the candy anytime but were given strict instruction not to open their gifts until Christmas. Christmas Town didn't count.
When they returned through Halloween Town, Jack cut them off before they left. He'd been thinking while they were gone and insisted they come back just before Halloween to help out with the preparations and take part and even star in the celebrations. With spooky costumes like theirs, they would sure to be a hit. The deal was sealed when Rachel divulged that she knew a creepy little song perfectly fitting for Halloween entitled "Skeletons on Parade". Of course Jack was all-a-quiver down to his tarsals and was eager to hear it.
Atlantica was a thrill and a half. The moment they arrived everyone was in their underwater forms like on Destiny Island. Sora showed them all the cool places like the undersea garden and the sunken ship. After that, the palace itself. Much to his surprise and disappointment, King Triton informed Sora that Ariel was not there anymore. He had granted her legs so she could marry and live on land with Prince Eric. They'd been married for some time. Too bad for them they were on a time crunch and the palace was quite the swim away. Rachel used her Keyblade and her magic to create a small sculpture out of ice then crystalized it so it would never melt. The featured all five of them side by side and back to back in really cool poses. The King could give it to Ariel along with their well wishes.
On the ship heading to the next world Sora had a thought that bothered him and he shared.
"You know, Ariel knew I was from another world but now that I think about it…I don't think I ever said it wasn't a world with fins. I hope she won't be upset or hurt because I never told her I was a human."
Kairi assured him if Ariel was half the friend he described her to be she either wouldn't be upset or she would forgive easily.
Next they went to the island of Neverland. As Rachel and Bryan had told them before, it was their first world.
"Can we get washed up first before we go meeting new people?" Kairi asked. "Swimming for hours is refreshing but still not a bath."
"The King doesn't have that kind of running water." Bryan told her.
"Are you kidding! A flying pirate ship doesn't have a shower?"
"Well it did belong to pirates. Putting up with your bunkmates smelly armpits was probably something you got used to if there was gold and jewels to be had."
"We still have soap. Just you'd need to find a stream or scrub in the ocean."
"I'll land us near a sheltered cove." Rachel said from the helm.
"NOT Mermaid Lagoon!" Bryan said sharply.
"I know!"
The King hovered about ten feet above the waves. Rachel found the tall rock face with a tiny beach at the bottom. Lush plants grew between the cracks in the rocks. Even if someone were to be looking over the cliff, it was too high up to see anything. Kairi agreed to let the boys go first. So they put towels, soaps and shampoo in the lifeboat and glided down to the beach. Looking back up to the ship to make sure the girls weren't looking, the boys disrobed, took a bar of soap each and a wash cloth and got in the water. For Sora and Riku, this was hardly new. All islanders at some point in their lives had used the ocean as their bathtub. Bryan barely got in waist deep before his tail formed and he dropped. He wasn't fazed at all when he was suddenly in water up to his nose.
"Isn't there anything you can do about that?" Riku asked. He dropped beneath the waves to get his hair wet.
"If I concentrate hard enough on reversing the magic I can. For the most part it isn't worth it. Half the times I tried I just get so relaxed I lose concentration and change again. I don't even remember what it feels like to feel the drag of the water against my legs."
"That's a little sad." Sora said. He was lathering shampoo through his hair. The suds looked like snow clumps on a mountain. He dipped under a few times until the soap had rinsed out.
Riku shook his head. He would never understand the impossible physics behind Sora's hair. Soaking wet it barely drooped where anyone else would have it plastered all over their face and taken forever to dry.
To Riku, the waves pushing against him and washing away the soap felt good. Felt like the ocean back home. The water was warm against his body and the clouds of sand at his feet tickled. None of them said much as they got clean. They didn't seem to remember they were supposed to get in, get clean and get out so the girls could take their turn.
"I don't believe it!" Bryan's exclamation broke the peace of a refreshing scrub.
"What? That's wrong?" Sora asked, looking around for what might have caught Bryan's attention. He looked mostly in the water in case some kind of rare or magnificent Never-creature was swimming around their ankles.
"Look!" Bryan pointed to the bottom corner of the stern. A stream of water like a spout from a fountain flowed from a pipe at the bottom of the ship.
"Yeah? So? It's just water isn't it?" Sora sked.
"But look at it, it's steaming. It's hot water." Bryan told him, a displeased scowl clouding his face.
"What's the big deal? Probably just a kitchen drain."
"One, why would they be cooking when a bath doesn't take that long. Two, that's not where the kitchen water drains out." Bryan slowly clawed his fingers then rolled them into a fist. He made a frustrated 'grrph!' noise. "There is hot running water on the ship and I'll bet the girls are using it to shower!"
That certainly got their rears in gear. No running water, eh? No hot showers? No indoor bathing? They got out of the water and dried off as quickly as they could then went back to the ship. None of them bothered wasting time putting on their shirts or footwear and their hair was still dripping wet. The three key bearers sprinted across the deck and nearly slipping over their own wet feet going down the steps quickly. Kairi and Rachel weren't in the main area below deck or in Rachel's quarters. They found the girls in a back room dressed in fluffy bath robes and slippers and combing each other's wet hair.
"I don't believe you!" Bryan snapped.
"Oh, hi guys."
"That's what you have to say? We had to go get naked in the ocean to wash up trying not to step on starfish and sharp rocks and you two got the luxury of hot pressurized water and no sand sticking to your legs?"
"Yeah, so? You're boys. You can rough-it in the wilderness just fine. And what do you mean 'trying not to step on starfish'? You don't even have any legs when you get in the water."
"We thought it would be more efficient if we all got clean at the same time so we could get going faster." Kairi defended innocently.
"Where do we even have a shower?" Bryan demanded, exasperated by Kairi's unacceptable answer.
"Like I'm gonna tell you!" Rachel retorted.
"This is OUR ship!"
"And I can't keep a thing or two to myself?"
Bryan looked like he wanted to argue further but didn't. He knew many of his sisters debate styles and this was the most annoying so he saved himself the torture.
"How did you know anyway?" Kairi asked.
"We saw the hot water draining from the ship." Riku said. He was acutely aware of Rachel's gaze gliding over his torso with a faint approving smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
When they resumed their adventure Peter Pan was overjoyed to see Rachel, Bryan and Sora again, as was Tinker Bell. Peter was glad Kairi was all right from her imprisonment on Hook's ship then whisked away to Hollow Bastion. Peter Pan led the way around the island. He was thrilled to see Sora hadn't forgotten how to fly.
Visiting Pixie Hollow would have to wait. It didn't set right to ask the fairies for enough blue dust to shrink three more people. Maybe they could come back when somebody learned a shrinking spell. The Indians welcomed the friends of Flying Eagle, Beating Drum and Dancing Fire with open arms. Their second day ended with a bonfire and dancing. They left the next morning for a new world.
***If anyone has any issue with me writing guys bathing in close proximity completely in the buff, kindly remind yourself what the mens locker room in high school or the shower room of sports teams must look like first before being bothered by what I wrote. Comments on story and writing style not author's comments please. Thank you much, keep flying.