AN: Hey you guys! Who's ready for more Kingdom Hearts fanfiction action from yours truly?!
[audience applause]
All right! So, welcome to 2018, everyone, the year where it seems we will finally, at long last, after all this time, see the release we've all been waiting for: Kingdom Hearts 3!
[roaring audience applause]
I know, right?! And let's not forget what else we're getting this year! Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, just to name a couple of things...Oh, yes. 2018 is certainly filled with a lot of promise, at least for the entertainment industry.
Riku: What about Deadpool 2?
AN: ...I said it had a lot of promise, not a complete guarantee. In case you forgot, I do not like Deadpool. At all.
Sora: Kinda hard to forget considering how often you blast him out of here, or have anyone in any of your stories do it. Then again, I can't say I blame you that much. Deadpool might be funny at times, but he's not really what I would call hero material.
AN: Thank you, Sora. Glad someone agrees with me on that. Now, let's move it along with the story, but before we go under da sea, let's answer a few reviews real quick. It has been a couple months since the last update, so we've got a fair amount to go through.
Kairi: Well, where do we start?
AN: Hmm...How about with this one here, from "Dragon Rider 66"? No, the idea that there was going to be something involved between Sora, Kairi, and Ariel if only because the two girls are redheads isn't too weird, but that doesn't really factor into the big reasons as to why in this story. Oh, and don't worry. I'm going to try and make sure I don't leave you guys waiting too long until we get to the chapter where we see Aqua again. As for that parody suggestion, I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to pull that off.
Moving right along to regular reviewer, "ronin warriors fanatic", I will admit that did have a bit of an influence on how it played out, but Aang's training for the avatar state also draws quite a few similarities from The Empire Strikes Back as well. Though I can understand how you would be able to see more of the former in there than the latter. Glad you enjoyed everything else that had happened in there too, and that I'm still doing great at making sure it all remains so epic.
Roxas: Well don't sound too boastful or anything.
AN: Really man? You're back again?
Roxas: You say that like it should really be a surprise at this point.
AN:...Okay, you have me there. My next answer is to "TrimusicaDrag00n90", no, they did not get any new summons while they were inside Monstro, and the only summon they got from Agrabah was Genie's, but you will see some summoning action this chapter.
Running right along with another regular reviewer, not just for this story, but for many of my stories, "Monkey D. Conan", I feel ya on what you're saying in regards to missed opportunities for Sora and Riku to have a heart-to-heart, but really, I think that would be more true in the case of the DDD moment that you mentioned. I too feel like the guys should've had a sit down to air out any grievances or ill feelings that might have come about from Riku being the one getting the Mark of Mastery instead of Sora, or even both of them. Even so, Sora did get sucked into a dangerous trap that caused him to lose a lot of his powers (which does work as a good explanation as to how he could possibly start from the ground up again in KH3, I guess), and you do have to keep in mind that after so much success like the kind that Sora has had over the course of the last few games, it makes sense that he would be overconfident enough to fall into a trap like that regardless of any signs there might've been, so I guess that kinda balances things out...Yeah, I'm not entirely sure where I was going with that. Either way, I do agree that the two did need a little bit more closure than we saw. Maybe they got it off-screen, or maybe the creators just have it so that the characters are that simple by nature. As for the rest of your questions, you'll find out the answers today, except in the case of which new worlds we'll be seeing next. I'm keeping those secret until the time is right. Also, I'm afraid that neither Marvel or Star Wars will appearing in this story as a new world, but they will be appearing in the sequel in said case, which is actually why Spidey and a Star Wars character are appearing here as summons.
Next up is "WaywardWind27", or Windy as he told us to him. Glad you find the story so great, dude, and I'm happy to hear that you read Keyblades of Future Past as well in order to fully understand all the stuff here that relates back to that story. To answer your question about Roxas looking like Ven, the reason for that is because while Ven is still around, the heart he currently has is one that he received from a Future-Sora, namely the one who went back in time to help save the future in Keyblades of Future Past, while Present-Day-Sora still has Ven's fractured heart inside of him. That will actually come into play for something else later on in the sequel, so I won't say anymore than that for now. Here's hoping you continue to enjoy the epic that is unfolding here.
As for all the rest of you who are new reviewers or saying things like "Update soon", glad you're enjoying the story so much, and as of now...Wish granted!
Genie: Hey! I thought granting wishes was my thing.
AN: Just a figure of speech, Genie. Now, cue disclaimer!
I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter XIII
"Breathe in…and out. Feel the air flowing through your lungs, and the small subtle breeze that blows around you," Ventus softly instructed as he and Sora both sat on the floor in their usual meditative positions. After realizing that their journey to the next world on the map was going to take a few more hours to a day or two at the least, Ventus decided that it was high time he finally started teaching Sora some wind magic. The kid definitely had the magic reserves for at least one of the easier wind spells by now, and it would definitely help if Sora did not have to rely on either him or Donald to cast such spells in order to help him and the others all the time, so Ven figured what better time than now? Besides, considering their next destination, Ventus had a feeling that having so much as one more new spell in his arsenal was going to be a big help to Sora, and he was past due to learn one anyways.
The problem was that, given his current level of magical ability, the only wind spell that Sora could learn right now was the defensive version of Aero, but then again, that same spell could often come in quite handy, and defensive magic like that had often saved Ventus and his friends quite a few times both while they were on missions or when they were just sparring. Of course, like with the other spells, Ventus needed Sora to get a feel for the element he was trying to harness with his magic, and while that was a lot more difficult with some of the other, more advanced spells like Gravity, Magnet, or Stop, wind magic was still one of the more difficult spells to get a feel for. Ventus never really noticed himself since this particular elemental magic came to him so naturally, but he did remember both Aqua and Master Eraqus telling him that others would have a hard time learning wind magic because it involved getting a more noticeable feel for something that they felt everyday without even thinking about it. Sora did not seem to be having that problem so far though, from what Ven could tell, but that idea was quickly cast aside when Sora let out a tired sigh after a few seconds.
"Don't try to force or rush things, Sora. You need to let it happen," Ventus cautioned, but he had a feeling that this was not entirely case. He could not blame the kid, given what had happened while they were all trapped inside of Monstro, but at the same time, he was never going to be able to teach Sora anything new if the kid was too distracted by all of his other problems to focus.
Sora just sighed again and then went on to confirm what Ventus believed had been on the kid's mind. "I just can't stop thinking about the last time we saw Riku, or how he was using dark magic. I know you said he's probably only doing so because he thinks that he doesn't have another option, but I'm not so sure if that's entirely the case, given how he was acting and the things he said."
"Just give it time, Sora, and have faith in your friend. The minute you start thinking badly of him will be the moment when hope starts dwindling for him," Ventus advised, having gone through similar circumstances with Terra. He then paused for a minute before he asked, "That's not the only thing on your mind though, is it?"
"No," Sora admitted, letting his arms droop lazily, feeling like he was not going to get anywhere with learning Aero at this rate. "I just can't help but think about something else that Riku had said while we were chasing after him and Pinocchio. That I only seemed interested in running around with you and showing off my Keyblade. I know we've done a lot of good, saved a few worlds, and made a lot of new friends, or in your case reunited with some old friends…"
"Just two old friends, so far, and you've met up with some of your other friends from your island too, you know," Ventus pointed out with a smile, hoping that would cheer Sora up from this depressing mood he was falling into.
Sora's lips did turn upwards a little at that, but not quite enough for Ventus, and he was slipping into a neutral frown once again as he continued. "Either way, can I really say that I've done all that much to help out, lately? Or that I've even made any progress on finding Kairi's body, or figuring out a way to return her heart to it?"
Ventus was not sure how to answer that, because truthfully, they had not made any real progress on the two goals Sora had mentioned at all. Sure, they had saved a few worlds and secured them from the Heartless, but their main objectives were still hanging by threads as it is. Add in the fact that they were the only thing keeping the last Princess of Heart safe, in a manner of speaking at least, and Ventus did not entirely trust himself to give Sora some kind of pep talk right now. Thankfully, he did not have to give a response right away, because someone else was already listening in and ready to give a response of her own.
"What're you getting all depressed for? You do remember that this boat runs on happy faces, right," Kairi asked from inside of Sora's heart. She had decided to start paying a little more attention to Sora's lessons with Ventus now since she had completed her own Dive to the Heart, so it came as no surprise that she was so quick to respond to what Sora was saying. "Besides, you were just telling me the other day that nothing could stop us right now. Sure, you haven't made much progress in the bigger picture, but you're still doing a lot of good out there in the worlds, Sora. And I know you're going to find my body and a way to get me back into it."
Sora appreciated the vote of confidence his crush was giving him, but he still not entirely sure. Thankfully, Ventus was now able to give a response to the kid's question. "Sora, just because we're not able to succeed in one field, doesn't mean we've failed completely. We're doing a lot of good by securing the Keyholes and destroying the Heartless as they appear, so take some strength from that if nothing else. We may not be able to win every fight, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying to."
Hearing his master's words, Sora found he could only nod in response, even if he did not entirely understand. Yes, he knew that it was always important to keep trying, but as far as he could remember, they had in fact won every single fight that they had gotten into since they all started journeying together. They would not even be having this conversation right now if they had not won all those fights, so why was Ventus implying that they were not winning all of them? Maybe the blonde was being metaphorical in an attempt to teach Sora something, but the kid was not one to really understand metaphors so easily. After all, Sora did wear his heart on his sleeve, and he also preferred the direct approach in everything, so it was only natural he would not catch onto Ven's meaning so quickly.
Ventus must have understood this, because he did not say another word on the matter after Sora had nodded in reply. Instead, he just returned to the lesson at hand, deciding to leave the life lesson for when they arrived on the next world. "Now, back to what we were doing. Do you think you've got a feel for the wind element, yet?"
"I think so, or at least I'm getting close," Sora nodded as he resumed his meditative stance.
"Good, then focus on that feeling, because once you've gotten a hold on it, we're going to be moving onto learning the defensive version of Aero, which is considered the easier version of the spell," Ventus encouraged.
Sora dropped his focus for a minute so he could cast a confused look to the blonde, because he just had to ask this question. "Why the defensive version? And what's the difference between defensive spells and offensive ones anyway?"
"You mean besides the obvious," Ventus lightly teased, earning a small grin from Sora in reply, along with a playful slap attempt that the blonde easily dodged. After letting out the laughs that had ensued, Ventus dove into the explanation right away. "Well, with offensive magic, you're usually just projecting the spell outwards in one or any direction, like how you shoot a fireball in whatever direction you're aiming the Keyblade when you cast Fire or Fira, while casting Thunder just rains down a shower of lightning bolts on the surrounding area from above."
"Okay," Sora nodded, fully understanding what Ventus was talking about this time.
"Defensive magic, on the other hand, is a much different story, because in order to properly use it, you can't just project the spell outwards. You need to shape it as well," Ventus continued.
"Shape it?"
"Yep. When you want to use a spell's defensive form, you need to be able to form a specific shape around you when you cast, the most common being a sphere of some kind. Take the defensive version of Aero for example: when you cast Aero Shield, it forms a swirling sphere of wind around you or whoever the target of your spell is. The key to fully casting Aero Shield is to figure out the best way to form that sphere around you. Some will picture themselves in the eye of a hurricane or the center of a tornado while the sphere itself is the surrounding winds, while others will just think of the actual thing. Whatever works best for you is what you need to figure out, but only after you finally get a feel for the element in question."
"So are there other kinds of defensive spells, like for the ones I've learned so far," Sora asked.
"As a matter of fact, there is," Ventus confirmed. "There's a defensive version of both fire and lightning spells, Fire Ring and Thunder Roll, but those are both still a bit too far out of your wheelhouse for the moment, since they are both very advanced forms of magic that you're not ready for yet."
Sora nodded in reply and then allowed Ventus to return them to their original goal for the lesson: getting a feel for the wind element of magic. After that point, the only real sound was Ventus' coaching, until Sora finally found what he was supposed to be looking for. Ven was quite pleased to say that the kid even did so much more quickly than most people were said to have. It was not quite as fast as Ventus himself had gained a hold on the feeling of wind magic, but it was still impressive how Sora was able to learn how to feel the element in just a day, give or take an hour. When they moved on to the actual spell, Sora found himself facing a little more difficulty than before. Oh it was not that he had a problem with just the basic casting, but it was forming the Aero Shield spell that he had a hard time with. Whenever Sora attempted a cast, he would summon a bit of wind around him, but it would only last for a few seconds, and it took on a very odd shape sometimes before it just faded out or exploded in a small whirlwind that left a few things in Ven's room scattered about. Thankfully, that was the worst that could happen when practicing this particular magic, so Ventus had no problem with it, especially considering that practicing with any of the other spells in Sora's arsenal would likely cause some serious damage to the ship. Still, it was obviously going to take some time for Sora to get a basic handle on this bit of magic, but Ventus was still confident that his apprentice could pull it off eventually.
By the time the team had reached their destination though, Ven's confidence in Sora's ability to learn Aero Shield was starting to waver a little, because the kid had made very little progress in the time since he had finally gotten a feel for the wind element. The good news was that Sora was able to actually form a shield around him or Ventus, but the bad news was that it was not quite at the level where you could say it was entirely effective. Sure, he could create a sphere of wind around either of them, but the wind in the shield was sporadic and had a few gaps in there that allowed for a good number of attacks to get through as opposed to being completely encompassing like it was supposed to be. In addition to that, the shield could not remain active for a very long period of time, and would eventually just disperse after its time limit was up. Thankfully, they were able to figure out the maximum time limit that Sora's shield could last, but the fact that he could only cast an Aero Shield that lasted for five minutes at best was not very encouraging. After all, most of their more serious fights certainly did not end that quickly, and Ventus had a feeling that the fights they would likely get into on this next world were going to last a bit longer than they usually did when battling with the normal Heartless, so they made it a point to try and get it better for the remainder of their trip.
Unfortunately, the only thing the two could accomplish by the time Donald had announced their arrival was closing up a few of the gaps in the shield, and while it was not perfect, it was still good enough for the moment in Ventus' eyes to say that Sora could probably use it while they were on this next world, so long as he only used it when absolutely necessary. Sora understood these conditions and agreed with them, but he made a note to try and improve on the spell whenever he could while they were here. He had a feeling that having some more defensive magic in his pocket was going to be a big help here, and considering this spell was the only one he had in that area at the moment, it made it imperative that he get it to perfection as quickly as possible. He still put it on the backburner for now, because when he and Ventus came onto the bridge, Sora found something very concerning in regards to their latest destination.
Looking down upon the world, Sora would admit that it was quite beautiful, and saw that it possessed a number of caves and trenches that would be ideal for any explorer worth their salt. Add in the extravagant castle that seemed to rest in the center of this world, and Sora was getting all the more excited about visiting this place. The only problem was that his excitement was easily dwindled by one small factor that he could see being a problem for them all: a good majority of if not the entire world appeared to be underwater, and since none of the team of four were part fish, last Sora checked, that was only going to mean one thing when they attempted to land down there, and he was not too fond of it.
Apparently, that did not seem to bother the others, because they just smiled in relief that they had finally arrived like they always would after an uneventful flight, and after he had parked the ship, Donald jumped out of his seat and declared, "Okay, guys. Prepare for landing on Atlantica."
"Land where? In the sea? In case you guys forgot, we can't breathe underwater! We'll drown the minute we get through the teleportation," Sora exclaimed.
"Not with my magic, we won't," Donald confidently boasted. "Just leave it to me, and I'll have changed us all into forms that will let us get around down there without any problems, and blend in with the locals perfectly."
Donald immediately whipped out his staff and waved it around at himself, Goofy, and Sora, but just as he was turning to Ventus, the blonde waved him off in polite refusal, saying, "I'm good, Donald. My armor and clothes have enchantments in them that will allow me to be able to change without any extra assistance."
"If you're sure," Donald shrugged as he stepped over to the teleporter, with the others close behind him. As they all began to vanish from the ship, Sora could feel a slight tingling sensation coming over him that was different from the ones he felt during previous trips through the ship's teleporter. A minute later, he began to lose feeling in his legs before a new, strange feeling suddenly flew into the lower half of his body right as they all disappeared, making him a little worried about what he would find out when they reappeared on this new world.
When the teleportation finally completed, the four friends all found themselves tumbling in various directions, only to stop in mid-air, or at least it would have been mid-air if they were not currently underwater. Sora was naturally relieved to find that he was indeed able to breathe properly, despite being underwater, but what came as a shock to him was how his body had changed as a result of Donald's magic. Looking down at himself, Sora saw that his clothes had all disappeared, leaving his bare arms and chest exposed for the world to see, but what was more shocking was that his legs had been replaced by a long tail that was similar to that of a blue dolphin. Looking over his shoulder allowed Sora to see that he even had a dorsal fin resting just below his waist. Seeing this change immediately caused Sora to turn to his friends, and he instantly saw that Ventus had taken on a similar change to him, except that he did not have a dorsal fin and his tail was a steel blue color, similar to the armor he wore on his shoulder. In addition to that, Ventus also seemed to wear emerald armor over his torso that appeared to be made of coral or some other similar material, with his silver badge resting in the center, being held in place by his usual pair of criss-crossing black straps, while his arms were left bare. When he looked over at Donald and Goofy, Sora was surprised to see that the lower half of Donald's body had been replaced by a set of octopus legs, with his upper body being left bare, and Goofy had turned into a large sea turtle, yet still somehow managed to keep his hat on his head. Seeing all of this immediately made Sora reassess the order of strange things he had seen since this journey started, because all of this definitely ranked somewhere close to the top. Not that he was complaining too much.
"Whoa. This is just…whoa," was all that Sora could think of to say.
"My thoughts exactly," Kairi admitted, her voice sounding a little dreamy to Sora when she spoke. A minute later, Kairi's voice became a bit more nervous as she asked, "Wait, did you just hear me say that?"
"Yeah. Yeah I did. Why," Sora admitted, curious as to why Kairi was talking like that to begin with.
"Uh…no reason," Kairi quickly stammered, but Sora could somehow tell that she was blushing right now, and somehow, he felt like Kairi's heart had started beating a little faster inside of his own. When he started to think that Kairi might have been taking in the view of his bare chest somehow, and enjoying it, Sora's face gained a bit of a blush as well, which did not go unnoticed by Ventus, if his amused smirk was anything to go by, but he put aside any teasing for the matter later. They still had a job to do.
"All right, let's get to work on finding the Heartless and sealing the Keyhole, guys," Ventus ordered, and he immediately tried to move forward in an attempt to lead the way. "Tried" being the keyword, since he did not really seem to move very far or very fast, and from the looks of things, the other three were not having all that much luck either, because they were just swimming around in circles or barely able to go up or down. Sora appeared to be having better luck than the rest of them, which came as no surprise since the kid did come from an island world where he probably did a great deal of swimming before, but he was still having trouble trying to adjust to having a fin instead of legs to swim around, so it was clear that they had to get a handle on moving around in these new forms before they could do anything. Somehow though, Ventus knew it was not going to be that easy unless they got some extra help.
Miraculously, it looked like they were going to get some extra help after all, because they all immediately heard something moving through the water towards them, followed by a bright, cheerful sounding voice that clearly belonged to a girl. "Come on, Sebastian," the woman called out.
"Ariel, wait! Slow down! Don't leave me behind," another, much deeper sounding, accented voice shouted out a second later, and the adventurers were all immediately turning towards the trench that lead out of their current location to see who was coming their way. They easily spotted a small, red hermit crab struggling to keep up with the two ahead of him, one of which was actually a small, round yellow fish with blue stripes and fins, but it was the third person who made them all stop and stare for a minute. The third individual in question, who was also obviously the person who they had heard speaking first was actually a beautiful mermaid with a sea-green tail, a slender figure, and long, bright red hair that almost seemed bigger than the rest of her body, but they chalked that up to the fact they were all currently underwater, while the only thing she seemed to wear was a brassiere made out of purple seashells. When she finally came close enough, they all caught a glimpse of her bright blue eyes and full red lips, and since all four of the adventurers were guys, you could understand why they were all still staring in awe when she had finally reached them.
The hermit crab, on the other hand, had a different reaction to the sight of them, because as soon as he had gotten right up to Donald's face, who was currently hanging upside down with his arms crossed, the little guy let out a frightened scream and scrambled away as fast as he could, with the yellow fish following shortly behind him, much to the redheaded mermaid's amusement. "Oh relax, Sebastian," she giggled. "They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?"
"I don't know. There's something weird about them," the little fish whispered to her.
"You know we can hear you, right," Ventus pointed out with his arms crossed, while Sora just nervously chuckled.
Flounder had the decency to look sheepish at the blonde's remark, while the mermaid of the three just smiled in response before taking to swimming around the group, studying them with a curious eye as she did. "Well to be fair, you do seem…a little different than most people around here," the redhead admitted, and they could all tell that she was not saying that to be offensive, while still being incredibly curious. "Where are you from?"
"Uhhh…" Sora started to say, before Ventus elbowed him in the side to help the kid get his head out of the clouds. "We're from kind of far away, and we're not really used to these waters," Sora stuttered with a nervous chuckle, barely noticing a small growl escaping from Kairi as he did.
Ventus just rolled his eyes at the boy a little, even though he could not really fault the kid for acting like any other teenage boy would in the presence of a girl like this mermaid before them, and decided to help the kid out a little in selling their cover story. "We also don't know anyone around here, so we're a bit hesitant to ask around for help."
"Oh, I see," the mermaid giggled in understanding, easily buying into the story. "In that case…Sebastian can show you how we swim around here."
"Ariel, King Triton will not like this," the hermit crab immediately protested, leading the redhead he was addressing to roll her eyes in exasperated response.
"Oh, don't worry," Ariel reassured the worrying crab with a small sigh.
"Easy for you to say," Sebastian groaned in response, but he still went on to try and teach the four how to properly swim in their new forms.
"Thanks for the help," Ventus said. "By the way, my name's Ventus, but you can just call me Ven, and this is Donald, Goofy, and my apprentice, Sora."
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Ariel, and this little guppy is my best friend, Flounder. And the worry-wart over there is Sebastian, my father's right hand crab, and one of the best music composers in the entire ocean," the mermaid introduced herself and her friends. "Now, I'll just move over here so that Sebastian can start his lessons."
With introductions and all other formalities out of the way, the four took to learning everything they could about moving around in their new forms from Sebastian, and it came as no surprise to Ventus that Sora and Donald both learned a lot more quickly than he and Goofy did. Like it had been mentioned before, Sora was from an island world, so it made sense he would be so quick to learn, and Ventus knew full well that Donald's iconic sailor ensemble was not just something he wore for show, because the magician had been doing quite a bit of sailing back in the day, both with Goofy and the king, and with his rich, adventuring uncle. Still, that did nothing to help lessen Ventus's hatred of how difficult it was to move around like this, and somehow, he just knew that this was likely going to affect his fighting style more than he would have liked. Sure, that really applied to all of them in many different ways, but considering that his own fighting style relied heavily on speed and moving fast, Ventus just knew that he would probably be the one who would be the most affected until he finally got used to moving around in this merman form.
Despite whatever difficulties that they encountered, it did not take too much time before they were all able to move casually around almost as easily as they would in their normal forms, and some of them even seemed to be doing as well as an actual denizen of this big blue world. You could tell this just from how Sora would often spin and flip through the water like he had been living on Atlantica his entire life, and from the corner of his eye, he could tell that Ariel had noticed as well, because she was just beaming at him whenever he successfully pulled some fancy little trick that the others would stumble over when they tried it. Sora honestly did enjoy getting such praise, but for some reason that he could not fathom, he could still hear Kairi grumbling about it inside of his heart. When his long-time friend suddenly growled a little in response to hearing Ariel cheering at his latest trick, Sora finally decided that he should at least ask her about it.
"Is everything okay, Kairi," Sora mentally questioned.
"Yeah, sure. Everything's fine, and you're obviously getting real cozy with your new form and new friend," Kairi replied in a short, clipped tone that barely hid her current feelings.
Sora would have called her out on that attitude had Sebastian not announced that they were going to move on to self-defense in their lessons. At least that had been the plan until Ariel suddenly shouted a warning that drew their attention over to where they and Flounder had just come from. Coming from just around the bend appeared to be a number of odd-looking jellyfish with orange, small tentacles dangling beneath them, with larger bright yellow ones in the front, and a reddish-brown iridescent heads which were hidden behind an emblem that the four adventurers were all quite familiar with: the emblem of the Heartless. When Ariel suddenly swam away into cover with Flounder right behind her, the four instantly realized that these must have been the ones that she had been talking about earlier when she said that they did not appear to be who she and her friends were trying to get away from, and it looked like Sebastian finally realized this as well, because he was soon swimming after the mermaid and her fish friend as fast as he could while telling them, "Class is over. Good luck!"
"Thanks," Donald grumbled while summoning his staff, just as the others were summoning out their own weapons, all realizing that they were going to have to learn how to fight in their new forms on the fly. Donald's first instinct of course was to prepare to zap these Heartless away with a Thunder spell, but just before he could finish calling out the name, he suddenly got tackled by Ventus as the blonde shouted for him to stop. "Hey, why'd you do that?"
"Really? We're all currently underwater, and you're asking me why I stopped you from using a lightning-based spell? You do know what would likely happen if you did that right," Ventus asked, rhetorically.
Donald could see Ventus's point. Even if it was magic lightning, there was still a very real chance that using such magic underwater would kill them all in an instant, so that meant that he and the others would have to fight without using one of their main spells. It was not too much of a concern for Donald, being a royal magician and all, but Sora on the other hand did have some concerns. Not being able to use lightning-based magic meant that he would also be unable to use the Thunderbolt Command Style, and that was probably not going to be a good thing right now. Still, he could not let that get him down, so he joined the other three in charging into battle right away. While Sora did not normally fight underwater back on the islands, he did still play a friendly game of Blitzball or two with Wakka and Tidus on occasion, so he did have a few tricks to spin out for this fight, and it looked like the others were quickly figuring out a few tricks of their own as the fight went on, especially since Goofy quickly figured out how to use his shield with his new flippers after a few failed attempts.
The only thing that really threw them all off was the fact that they now had to keep an eye out for enemies in literally all directions, since they now had to worry about an opponent trying to strike at them from below a lot more often. Ventus was able to adapt fairly quickly, having dealt with similar circumstances sometimes when he was traveling on his Keyblade Glider, but Donald and Goofy had to work at it a little more since they were so used to fighting someone on land. Thankfully, there were not too many Heartless to deal with, and the battle was ended fairly quickly, but if you were to ask Ventus, it ended a little too quickly for his liking. Despite the circumstances, it would also have been a perfect opportunity to find out if he and Sora could use Command Styles or Shotlocks in these forms, but since the fight was so short and had so few enemies, they never really had the chance to use either one of those abilities. Still, it was probably for the best, because the middle of a fight was not the best place to find out you were unable to use some of your best moves.
Once they had cleared the area of the last Heartless, they quickly told Ariel and her friends that the coast was clear so they could come out. "I'm guessing that you were trying to get away from them before you ran into us, right," Ventus asked Ariel once she and the other two had rejoined them in the open waters.
"Yeah. Those creatures had been chasing us for a little while now, and it looks like they chased us all the way here," Ariel nodded, tiredly.
"Oh no! Those monsters might be heading for the palace, too," Sebastian suddenly exclaimed in a panic.
"We'd better head back right away," Ariel agreed.
"But, wh-what if we run into more on our way back," Flounder asked.
"Don't worry. You can just leave that to us," Sora promised, getting surprised looks from the other three. "Fighting the Heartless is something that we've become real pros at."
"I wouldn't have put it as boastfully as Sora, but he is right. We do deal with the Heartless enough to say that we can handle them pretty easily, even if we are a little out of our usual waters," Ventus admitted. "You just lead the way to the palace, and we'll follow after you, keeping the monsters at bay."
"Thanks, and if you get lost, the trident markers on the walls will be able to point you in the direction of the palace," Ariel informed them, indicating one such golden marker on the nearby wall when she did.
The four immediately nodded in thanks for that heads-up, and they quickly ventured out towards the undersea palace as fast as they could. The team let Ariel and her friends swim a little ways ahead of them though so that they could talk to Jiminy about the Heartless they just fought. When they did turn to him though, they saw that the little cricket had remained the same as he always was, save for the fact that he was now wearing scuba gear. When asked why that was the case, Jiminy just shrugged and muttered about how he was glad that he made sure his journal would be water proof for just such an occasion as this while flipping through his journal for notes on the Heartless that they just fought. Eventually, he had to inform them that he did not have any notes on the ones that they had just fought, which likely meant that these Heartless were either new ones, or were unique to this world and or others like it, just like some of the ones that they had encountered back on Deep Jungle and Llama Empire.
A narrowing of his eyes immediately let everyone know that Ventus suspected they would be running into more Heartless that they would not be likely to find on any other world, so they all made sure to keep their guard up as they swam out of the trench and into open water with Ariel and the others. As they went though, they could hear Jiminy quickly making a new note on these jellyfish Heartless, naming them Sea Neons, while muttering about how he was going to be making a lot more similar notes while they were here, and hearing that made them all realize just how deeply they had already dived down into trouble after just getting here. They just had to hope they could swim through it before they were completely sunk.
Getting to the palace probably would have gone a lot faster if it were not for the encounters that the group had with the Heartless. Everywhere they turned they seemed to be encountering the dark creatures, and so far, the only ones that they met which the four adventurers were familiar with were the Search Ghosts, because all the others were new and clearly meant for underwater missions and combat. In addition to the Sea Neons, they also encountered Heartless that held a resemblance to divers, with deep sea and dark green colors, each carrying a blue trident, which Jiminy dubbed as Screwdivers in reference to how their preferred attack style appeared to be spinning, charging attacks and how they seemed to give off the appearance of wearing a diving suit. Dealing with all these different Heartless certainly made things a challenge for the group, but not to the point where they could not handle things at all. More than that, Ventus and Sora did finally discover whether or not they could use some of their other abilities while on this world, but it turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.
While they found out that they could in fact use Command Styles and Shotlocks, they also found out that they could not use certain other abilities like Sonic Blade. Sure, they could still perform abilities like the various forms of Strike Raid, but when it came to anything that had a charging nature to it like that one rush ability, they found it inaccessible. Even the various versions of Strike Raid were not as easily used since they seemed to be much slower than normal, no doubt due to the fact that they were trying to throw their Keyblades while underwater, so they figured it would be better to not bother with it for now, which meant it would be harder for them to use some of the Command Styles, or at least some of Ven's personal ones like Fever Pitch. Even then, using that particular set of Keyblade abilities had a limitation, not just because they were being cautious and avoiding the use of any lightning-based magic, but also because all of their fire magic seemed to be weaker than normal. It was not that surprising, given what one would expect to happen with fire that was underwater, but it was still disheartening to know that the only Command Style they could use most effectively was Diamond Dust and some of Ven's personal Command Styles, assuming he was able to access them. All-in-all, they were going to be having a much more difficult time than usual whenever they got into a fight while they were here on Atlantica.
It was partly due to these new limitations that the team was unable to shake off all of the Heartless by the time they had reached the palace, and why they were swimming as fast as they could to get some distance between them and the Screwdivers that were currently behind them before they could turn and effectively fight them. They may not have stopped them from getting into the palace, but they would be damned if they allowed them any further than they already had gone. Just when the two Keyblade wielders were about to turn and fight though, Ariel shouted for them to move out of the way, and they just barely avoided getting zapped into oblivion along with their pursuers by the skin of their teeth. Although they did note that the blast had a distinctive lightning-like appearance to it, so they had to assume that likely meant it was probably okay to use magic lightning while on this world. That did not mean they were going to try it carelessly though, and certainly not here and now, because it could still likely cause trouble for everyone who lived in the palace, and they did need to say thanks to their rescuer.
"That was too close," a deep voice sighed in relief, drawing a smile onto Ariel's face before she swam into the throne room with the others. When they all came to a stop before a raised throne, they looked up to see a very buff-looking merman with a long white beard, gold gauntlets, and a gold crown, holding a large trident across his lap, while holding a stern expression on his face. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace," the large merman decreed.
"Daddy," Ariel gasped happily, surprising the four off-worlders when she did. If their hunch was right, and this large merman was the one in charge, then that would mean that Ariel was likely a princess, and she definitely did not strike them as the royalty type.
"Oh, Ariel! When will you listen? It's dangerous out there! Strange creatures lurk outside," the king scolded, instantly wiping the smile off Ariel's face and replacing it with a sheepish, slightly ashamed one. The sheepish look quickly disappeared though as she was soon rolling her eyes again, indicating that she had heard this all before, and was a little sick of it. Even so, her dad did not appear as though he would just drop the matter, at least until his eyes found the four individuals he did not recognize, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy both had to flinch a little at the suspicious glare he was settling on them.
Sebastian was quick to ease everyone out of the tension in the water by swimming up to the side of the throne and clearing his throat so that he could properly announce, "Behold! You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton!"
With the crab's declaration, Ventus finally remembered his manners and quickly gave a quick bow, while motioning for Sora and the others to do the same, at least as best as they could, while he said, "Your lordship. Thank you for the timely rescue just now."
Triton seemed to be a little impressed with Ven's show of respect, if the small nod was any indication, before he asked, "And who are you?"
"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel immediately replied, hoping that she could get her new friends some more favor from her father.
The sea king took that in while studying before he finally mused, "They don't look familiar."
"We're from an ocean very far away," Sora immediately explained, remembering the cover story that Ventus had spun up for them earlier when they first met Ariel, hoping that they could keep things simple and still remain in the king's favor.
That plan went a little ways out the window when Goofy revealed, "Yup. We came to find the Keyhole."
"The what," Triton gasped in shock, a fact that seemed to escape the notice of everyone other than Ventus.
"What's that," Ariel asked.
Before Goofy could say anything, Ventus immediately shoved the knight-turned-sea-turtle aside so that Sora and Donald could clamp his mouth shut, and explained with a nervous chuckle, "You'll have to excuse Goofy. He has a bit of an overactive imagination."
"I should hope so, because there's no such thing, and certainly not here," Triton angrily insisted, a little too harshly one might add, and everyone easily realized this.
"But Daddy," Ariel tried to protest, but she was quickly silence when her father gave her a very stern look.
"Ariel, not another word! You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear," Triton then demanded. Apparently, he had been a little too harsh when he spoke, because Ariel immediately turned and swam away in a huff, with Sora and the others chasing after her, likely hoping to try and cheer her up, while only Sebastian remained behind. After watching his daughter race off in such an upset state, Triton found he could not help but sigh tiredly in a bit of sadness. "Oh, perhaps I'm being too strict," Triton mused. "I'm just concerned for her safety."
"Of course, Your Majesty," Sebastian wholeheartedly agreed, not that he would do otherwise even if he had grounds too. He had been right there with the sea king watching Ariel grow up, so he knew just as well as Triton did that the little mermaid was a very curious girl, and how it would sometimes lead her into trouble. All the same, there was something that was brought up earlier that he could not help but wonder about, and he admitted it too. "But I must admit, now I'm quite curious about this Keyhole that the sea turtle had mentioned."
"That need not concern you, Sebastian," Triton immediately waved off with a warning glare, making it clear that the crab should drop the matter if he knew what was good for him. Besides that, there was something else he needed to ask Sebastian about that he considered far more important at the moment. "Have you anything to report?"
"Just as you suspected, Your Majesty, they seem to be coming from Ursula's grotto," Sebastian moaned in slight despair.
"I knew it," Triton practically roared angrily, dropping all signs of tiredness he was showing just seconds ago. "That sea witch is up to no good again. I see exile from the palace has taught her nothing."
"Yes, she poses serious danger," Sebastian immediately agreed, but he quickly flinched away when he saw his king fix him with a small glare.
"And I told you to keep Ariel away from such danger, did I not," Triton questioned, even though it was clear he was not really intending it as such.
Sebastian was instantly trying to stutter and scramble for any excuse he could think of for his defense, but he was soon putting it on hold when someone suddenly said, "To be fair, Your Majesty, and with all due respect, I somehow doubt that a little crab would be able to do much in keeping your daughter out of trouble. After all, people who are as adventurous and curious as Ariel seems to be are always finding some way to land in trouble no matter how careful they are trying to be, or how safe others are trying to keep them. Trust me, I know because I was very much like her when I was younger."
Turning to the speaker, Triton and Sebastian were both a little surprised to see Ventus swimming back into the room towards them, with a serious look on his face. "I had thought you and your friends had left with Ariel," Triton admitted.
"I told them that I would catch up later, because right now, there's something I need to speak with you about, Your Majesty," Ventus admitted, and his tone served as all the more indication as to how important this matter was.
Seeing how serious Ventus was, and hearing the heaviness of his voice just now, Triton somehow felt that he would be doing a great disservice by not hearing out the blonde before him, and as a result, he actually leaned forward a little bit to hear what the young merman had to say, silently prompting Ventus to begin his tale when he did. When he saw that he had the king's attention, and that Sebastian had used this chance to scurry away in order to look after Ariel like he was supposed to have been, Ventus began by saying, "I supposed the best place to start would be with what you already suspect about myself, my apprentice, and our two friends…"
After following Ariel out of the throne room, Sora and his two companions soon found themselves following her out of the palace as well, making it clear that she had no intention of listening to her father. Not that any of them could blame her. Even from just that one encounter with him, Sora could easily tell that King Triton was the type to be too overprotective even if his heart was in the right place. Sure, he could understand Triton's desire to keep his daughter safe, mostly because Sora thought all parents should be like that, but from what he saw, it looked like Triton was going a little too far in his efforts in trying to look out for Ariel. The girl obviously wanted to follow her heart, but she could not do that because of how protective her father was. It honestly made Sora feel a little bad for Ariel, and while she would not say that she did not feel the same way, knowing that Sora was able to sympathize with the mermaid so much was honestly making Kairi feel more irritated than anything else.
Sora fully intended to call his friend out on that again, but right now, he needed to focus his attention on keeping an eye on their surroundings. Since Ventus had told him and the other two to go on ahead and stick with Ariel, Sora was the only Keybearer in their group, and he knew that meant most of the defense against the Heartless was now resting on his shoulders alone. That was not to say that he was discrediting Donald and Goofy's skills in battle, because they were certainly effective in a fight against the Heartless, even in their current undersea forms, but even they had admitted that as a wielder of the Keyblade, Sora was the best defense against the creatures of darkness, so Sora knew that he had to shoulder a great deal of responsibility now. Knowing this made Sora a little nervous, since this was the first time he would be doing something like this on his own, but at the same time, he was also kind of excited. In his eyes, this seemed like Ven's way of showing how much his master trusted him to handle things, so Sora was taking it as quite the boost to his confidence and pride. The only downside was that he had a hard time concentrating due to the excited nature that Ariel was giving off after he and the others had managed to cheer her up a little. It just reminded him so much of how he was back before everything with Keyblades and Heartless had started, when traveling to other worlds was just a dream that he and his friends had shared, that Sora could not help but grin a little at Ariel's enthusiasm.
Part of that eagerness might have had something to do with the fact that she had something that she wanted to show the three in her grotto, and she had indicated as such once they had gotten well enough away from the palace before swimming towards said location. Thankfully, they did not encounter any Heartless along the way, so the three gave a silent bit of thanks for that as they watched the mermaid pull aside the boulder that hid the entrance to her little hideaway. When they were all inside, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had to let out simple words of awe and surprise at what was inside. Ariel's grotto was a small cave, but it seemed to tower upwards quite a bit, and all along the walls they could see various different items and chests that they could assume Ariel had placed here herself. They even spotted some books, paintings, and old clocks that seemed to be in very good condition despite being underwater for so long, and it all quickly told them that Ariel had a bit of a treasure hunter spirit in her.
"Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected," Ariel declared proudly with a smile that proved their suspicions true, just as Sora's eyes came to rest on a small crystal that had a trident-shaped indention in it. Still, they all found themselves unprepared for what Ariel said next. "I think it's all from the outside world."
"The outside world," Donald asked in surprise, with Goofy and Sora's expressions matching his own astonished one.
Ariel nodded happily in reply. "I know it seems a little silly to think like that, but I know that there are other worlds out there," the mermaid explained. She then let out a dreamy sigh and said, "Someday, I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds so much." She then paused for a minute, realizing that the others might not quite understand her dream that well, and asked, "Does that sound strange?"
"No. Not at all," Sora immediately told her with a smile of his own, showing that he really meant it. "I used to feel the same way."
"Used to," Ariel asked, honestly a bit confused as to how he could have lost that feeling. To her, the desire to see a dream like hers through was not something one could easily discard without actually following through with the dream. Sure, some people have said that she would grow out of the idea of traveling to other worlds, but Ariel thought that meant they had just given up on their own dreams because they never found a way to make them happen, and they were trying to keep her from feeling too disappointed if she ever ended up the same way.
When he realized his blunder though, Sora quickly corrected himself in the hopes of keeping Ariel from getting suspicious of their true origins. "I mean…I still do. It's a dream that my best friends and I have all shared since we were kids."
That seemed to perk Ariel up a little bit, proving that she had not seen through them just yet, and she then went on to let the three tour her grotto full of treasures for a little longer. As they were doing so, Sora found one treasure chest that did not seem to open, or even have a key. Thinking Ariel was not going to mind if he had a small peek inside, Sora immediately gave the chest a small tap with his Keyblade, and when it opened up, he was surprised and slightly confused to find a single piece of paper inside of it. Upon closer inspection though, he noticed that the paper looked like it had been torn free of something, prompting him to pick it up and study it a bit more just as Jiminy swam up to a position just above his shoulder. "Hey, isn't that another one of the missing pages from Merlin's book," Jiminy asked.
"…Yeah, I think so," Sora realized after another minute. He easily spotted several similarities between this page and the one that they had found back in Agrabah, but that did not answer the question of how it had ended up in a locked treasure chest down here in Atlantica, or how it was still in such good condition despite being underwater. Either way, Sora was not complaining too much, as he had Jiminy quickly store the page away for him for the moment, while making a mental note of how they now only had three pages left to find.
Just as Sora and Jiminy were about to look around a little more, Ariel suddenly swamp up to them with a bright smile on her face that Sora knew was similar to the one he had when he felt like he had just come up with a great idea. "Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole your friend was talking about," Ariel suggested.
"What? Uh, why would you want to do that? Ven and your dad said that it didn't exist, remember," Donald pointed out.
"Hey, give me some credit. I know when someone's trying to cover up a big secret, and especially when it's my father," Ariel disputed, making the three adventurers a little more nervous about keeping their cover intact. "Besides, if it's really so important for you to find it, then why not let me help?"
"But your father said…" Sora started to say, only for Ariel to interrupt him part way through with a small huff of annoyance.
"Oh, he treats me like a little girl. He never lets me do anything," Ariel complained, and they could all tell that it really bothered her quite a bit. It became especially apparent when her face fell into a sad look as she finished, "He just…He doesn't understand."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy could certainly sympathize with her a little on that topic, and if what Ariel said was true and not just a case of her being a rebellious teenager, then they probably should not feel too bad about letting her help them out on their quest since it would be a chance for her to follow her heart like she wanted to. Besides, it would help if they had someone else around to guide them in Atlantica while showing them places where the Keyhole could be located, so how could they really say no? What none of them realized, even as they left the grotto was that they were being watched. Both by a very worried Sebastian, and a pair of eels with intentions that were just as evil as their master's.
Following Ariel turned out to be something of a good idea, considering that they were able to avoid some of the more dangerous areas a lot more easily, but at the same time, it also drew them into at least one of those dangerous areas too. Namely, the area of a sunken ship that a shark had made its hunting ground. Thankfully, said beast did not notice them before they had gotten into said sunken ship, but he certainly took notice while they were in there, and made it a point to try and take a bite out of them. Luckily, Donald managed to discourage the shark from doing so by giving it a hard hit on the nose using his staff, and the shark swam away, allowing them to approach a treasure chest it had inadvertently blocked afterwards without worry.
When they did and found the chest locked, Ariel was quickly thinking that they needed to go and look for the key, but Sora disproved that idea with a simple flourish of Kingdom Key, which he easily used to open the chest, revealing the item inside. What they found was actually much more impressive than the missing page that Sora had found in Ariel's grotto, even if said page was part of a special, magic book. The item in question was actually a shimmering, crystal trident that did not appear to have lost its shine at all in the time it had spent inside of the chest, making Sora, Donald, and Goofy think that it had not actually been in there for all that long. Ariel on the other hand could not help but think about how the crystal looked very familiar to her, until it finally struck her as to why that was. It looked just like that one crystal in her grotto, which meant that this must be a part of that same crystal.
When she told the others this, they all had to admit that they were curious as to what the gem would look like when it was completed, so they instantly plucked the crystal out of the chest and swam back to Ariel's grotto. Their trip back was not without problems though, and not just the shark from before wanting to take another go at them before getting chased off by both Sora and Donald once Goofy had stopped it from chomping down on them using his shell and shield. No, they also had some more Heartless to deal with as well, including a very large one that acted like a carrier for up to three different Screwdivers with a jagged stripe pattern that alternated in purple, white, and navy blue colors. They could also see that the large Heartless also had a lure on its head that had a greenish-yellow tint due to the yellow light on the end, while the Heartless emblem rested on its belly, right below its jagged mouth. This one was a bit more difficult to deal with since it came with Screwdivers that it could deploy at any time and fought a lot like a Large Body, aside from the fact that it would use powerful lightning blasts against them, but thankfully, the trio proved that they could handle it, with Sora finishing it off with a quick burst of the Thunderbolt Command Style, just to add a little insult to injury on the giant Heartless which Jiminy dubbed as Aquatanks.
Heartless related hiccups or otherwise, they still made it back to Ariel's grotto in one piece, and were quickly putting the crystal trident into the stone inside. It turned out to be a perfect fit, and for a moment, Sora could swear that he sensed something happening, like something was about to be unveiled before their eyes. The moment was quickly interrupted though when someone announced their presence to them in a loud, booming, and very angry voice that made them all cringe away a little since they knew that it meant they had just been busted.
"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again! I told you not to leave the palace," Triton shouted as he swam into the grotto with Sebastian close behind, looking slightly ashamed of the fact that he had been the one to tell the sea king about this. Before Triton got any further though, he noticed the crystal trident that had just been placed into the gem, and he immediately grew wide-eyed at the sight. The next thing anyone realized, Triton was narrowing his gaze once more, and raised his trident towards the item, leaving no mystery as to what he was intending to do.
"Daddy, no," Ariel pleaded, but it was too late, and Triton quickly destroyed the crystal, leaving the gem now completely void of its presence, and his daughter in tears. "How could you…?"
Ariel did not stick around to hear any explanation from her father, but instead just swam away as fast as she could, leaving Sora and the others unsure if they should go after her or just stay here to give Triton a piece of their minds. Right then, they did not really care if he was king of Atlantica. All that mattered was that he had upset their friend for apparently no real reason. Even Kairi was encouraging Sora to chew the sea king out, and Sora knew that it was a big deal if she was sticking up for Ariel right now. Unfortunately, none of them got the chance, because they soon found that Triton had a few things to say to them right now, or more specifically, to Sora.
"Young man, you're not from another ocean. You're from another world, aren't you," Triton immediately accused, surprising Sora and his friends when he did. Their stunned silence seemed to be all the proof that Triton needed, because he immediately went on to add, "Then you must be a Keybearer."
"How…What makes you think that," Sora asked, trying to salvage whatever he could of this situation.
"Don't bother hiding it, boy. Your master already confirmed my suspicions, and told me everything," Triton revealed, and he moved aside to reveal Ventus slowly swimming into the room with an ashamed look on his face.
"Sorry guys. He…squeezed it out of me," Ventus admitted, doing his best to avoid his friends' gazes. "Besides, he already had a hunch about all of this anyways, so it was probably only a matter of time before he figured it out on his own."
"But…How did you even know," Donald asked, wanting answers from the sea king, despite feeling much smaller at the moment due to how intense Triton's glare was on them right then.
"You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail," Triton angrily revealed, earning a sigh from Sora that acknowledged they could not hide the fact that Triton had just pointed out. Sadly, he was not quite done yet. "As a Keybearer, you must already know, be it because of your master's teaching or even your travels, one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds."
"Of course I know that, but…" Sora tried to protest, more than willing to point out what good that they had done since their journey had began, along with everything regarding the Heartless and Maleficent, but Triton was not going to hear anything that Sora would say in his defense.
"You have violated this principle. The Keybearer shatters peace and brings ruin," Triton determined.
"Aw, Sora's not like that, and neither is Ven," Goofy tried to say in his friends' defense.
Triton seemed to listen to that at least a little bit, but apparently, it did little to change his mind, because he only offered one final decree before leaving the grotto. "I thank you for saving my daughter, but there is no room in my ocean for you or your keys."
When Triton finally disappeared from view, Sora could not help but summon his Keyblade in order to gaze down at it in thought. Was Triton right in what he was saying? Sure, Ventus had reassured him earlier that they were doing all that they could to make things better for everyone, but if that was the case, then why did Triton believe otherwise? And not only that, but if they were working to make things better, then they should have been able to do more to help Ariel just now, right? Sora just was not sure anymore, and since his mind was now thinking back to Riku's earlier accusations once more, he found himself becoming all the more confused about how much difference they were making again.
Ventus must have seen this, because he was quickly moving to float beside his apprentice, albeit with some hesitance. There was no doubt that the others were not going to think too fondly of him revealing who they really were to Triton, but he still had a job to do as Sora's teacher. "I know what you're thinking, Sora, but you can't let that get to you," Ventus tried to tell the kid.
"But what if he is right? What if we are just making things worse despite the fact that we're trying to stop the Heartless? Or what if the reason why the Heartless are so bad and getting worse is because we're fighting them and interfering on other worlds," Sora pointed out.
"Didn't we already have this conversation," Ventus asked in a non-serious tone. "Sora, even if that were true, we can't let that stop us from doing what we know is right. Besides that, this is something that you need to really understand if you want to be able to become a Keyblade Master someday. Not everyone is going to be appreciative of our actions, and some will even call us the bad guys simply because they misunderstood our intentions, or even for no real reason at all beyond needing someone to blame for their troubles, but if we let the harsh words of others affect our judgment, then we might as well just throw in the towel now. Understand?"
Sora wanted to say that he did, but he really did not. How could he really help people if they were so determined to not accept his help? It did not really make sense, and it was making his head spin. Despite that though, Ventus could see that the gears in the kid's head were at least turning a little in an attempt to help him understand, so that counted as something in his book. The kid just needed time to really process things, and he had to hope he was able to do so quickly, because there was no telling what this Ursula that Triton had told him about was planning. Add in the fact that she seemed to revel in taking advantage of people who were in the state that Ariel appeared to be in when she ran off, and anyone could see why Ventus was worried about what might happen if they left the poor mermaid alone for too long.
"Just think on it for a little bit. Right now, we should probably check on Ariel, and see if she's okay. She looked like she could use a few friends right now," Ventus suggested.
"Yeah…Okay," Sora agreed, but he paused for a minute when he actually processed when Ven had said. "Wait, shouldn't we leave though? I mean, King Triton made it pretty clear that he doesn't want us here."
"You know it's not that simple, Sora," Ventus reminded the kid. "We still have to find and seal the Keyhole if we want to ensure that this world will be safe from the Heartless, and while Triton did squeeze some information out of me, I was able to get a little bit of info from him as well. It turns out that the Heartless are being led by someone who used to be a friend of the king's: a sea witch named Ursula. No doubt she wants payback for being banished from the palace, and if what I learned about her is any indication, Ariel might be a target for her."
"Then we'd better hurry and go make sure that Ariel's okay, before this Ursula person gets to her," Goofy determined, with Donald nodding along in agreement.
Sora was quite for a minute before he decided, "You're right. Besides, Ariel could definitely use some friends to help cheer her up right now, so let's go and find her."
Everyone gladly agreed with Sora, and they all quickly swam out of the grotto. Well, almost everyone that is. "You seem awfully eager to go and find your new best friend," Kairi bitterly observed. Sure, she was all for making sure Ariel was okay if there was a chance that she could be Ursula's next target, but that did little to help the ugly feeling that she was getting right now in regards to the little mermaid.
"Okay, that's it! What is going on with you, Kairi," Sora demanded, coming to a stop as he did, just to make absolute sure that his full attention was on this matter.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kairi immediately denied, a little too quickly, one might add.
"Kairi, I know you better than that. You've been acting really moody ever since we met Ariel, and every time she comes up or even talks to me, you start appearing as though you hate her or something. You never act like that with anyone," Sora laid out for her, making it clear that he was not going to buy that.
Kairi knew that she had been backed into a corner just now, but she was not going to go down without a fight, even if it was just a verbal one (or mental in this case). "Like you really care. Don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been looking at her ever since you two met, or how you seem to already be forming such a strong friendship with her," Kairi hotly accused.
"What? Look, Kairi, I'll admit that Ariel is pretty and we became friends pretty quickly, but I've made friends quickly with other people too, like Aladdin, Jasmine, Alice, Hercules, Cloud, and a whole bunch of people. What's so different about Ariel," Sora questioned.
"Well I don't know. Maybe it's the fact you seem to be so set on finding things that you two have in common, or how you're not even having to try that hard to do so," Kairi retorted.
Needless to say, Sora was not enjoying this at all. He never enjoyed arguing with his friends like this, but he especially hated arguing with Kairi, and right now, he really did not need such a distraction on his shoulders. After all, there was a dangerous sea witch out there and Heartless, all of whom could be after their newest friend. Add in the fact that Sora was still trying to figure out what it was that Ven had been trying to tell him earlier, and you could see why the boy just wanted to put an end to this conversation so he could focus for the moment. He just wished that he could do so in a more peaceful way, or at least in a way that did not cause any ill feelings to form between him and Kairi for the moment.
"Look, can we…Can we talk about this later? We've still got to stop the Heartless and their supposed leader for this world," Sora reminded his best female friend/crush.
"Fine. Go on, do your big hero thing, and then celebrate with your new girlfriend. See if I care," Kairi snapped in response, cutting off any further communication with Sora before he could get a word in on that last comment.
Now Sora was confused on a number of levels. What was Kairi talking about with that last bit? Did she think that he was developing romantic feelings for Ariel or something? Sure, she had a lot in common with him, but that just made her a better friend in his eyes, and besides, he liked to think that he and Kairi had a lot in common too, along with a lot of his other friends as well. He would have pondered the matter a little further had Donald not started calling out for him to hurry up, so he decided to take his own advice and table the matter for now. Kairi would still be in his heart when this was over, and besides, maybe giving her a little space would help her to cool down a bit so that they could approach the subject with calmer heads when it came up again.
After swimming away from her grotto, friends, and father, Ariel just wanted to be alone in her misery, and finding a place where she could be was no problem for her, so it was not long before she had started crying her eyes out. She never understood why her father was so strict and harsh with her, and now, after what he just did, she honestly felt like he had gone too far. Not that there was anything she could do about it. After all, her father was king of the seas, and even without that, she would never really be able to go against his wishes and follow her heart's desire to see other worlds, but she really felt like she had been much closer than ever this time. Spending time with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and even Ventus had made her feel like the way to other worlds was within her reach for the first time in a long while, but after that little outburst of her father's, she was no longer sure of anything. All Ariel wanted right then was to be left alone, but her wish was not quite granted, because she ended up with some unexpected company.
A pair of eels suddenly swam around her, sounding almost as though they were mocking her until they revealed that someone might be able to help her, and that someone turned out to be Ursula, the sea witch herself, who instantly appeared before Ariel in a puff of black smoke, almost as though she had been expecting for this to happen. Naturally, Ariel was not so desperate that she was willing to listen to the sea witch, given what she knew of Ursula's reputation, but Ursula had a bit of a silver tongue that just drew her in to whatever promises that she could make.
This was proven all the more true when Ursula revealed that getting Ariel to other worlds was not going to be too hard, but what the mermaid did not expect was for the sea witch to reveal that her newest friends had already done so because they were actually from another world themselves. Hearing this shocked Ariel, and made her feel a little betrayed. How could Sora and the others have kept such a big secret from her, especially after finding out about her dream? If they could go to other worlds, then surely they could have taken her along with them so that she could see those worlds too, right? Ursula already had an answer for that too, because she revealed that they had special help from the strange keys that Sora and Ventus used, and while Ariel was disappointed to hear this, she immediately perked up again when Ursula told her that she had something special as well. When Ariel made it apparent that she had no idea what Ursula was referring to, the sea witch was more than happy to enlighten her.
Ursula explained that the Keyhole that Ariel's new friends were looking for was most likely somewhere in the palace, and all the little mermaid needed to do to reach other worlds was try and find it. Ariel was skeptical about that, since her father had said that the Keyhole was not in the palace, but then again, it was not like her father would not lie to her about something like that because he was being overprotective of her. Still, that did not mean that Ariel knew how to find this Keyhole, or even how to use it in order to reach another world, and when she mentioned as much, Ursula was quick to offer a simple solution: all Ariel needed to do was get Ursula into the palace without her father knowing, and Ursula would help her get to the other worlds that she wished to see. While she was still skeptical of that plan, at this point, Ariel felt like she did not really care. She was tired of always being treated like a little girl and being lied to by the people she trusted, and she wanted to follow her heart to her dream so badly, that she was willing to do whatever it takes at this point, so she readily agreed.
That turned out to be a huge mistake on Ariel's part, because the minute that Ursula was in the palace, she had immediately seized the trident, and used it against Triton, severely wounding him, much to Ariel's horror. "The trident is mine at last, and I couldn't have done it without your help, my dear," Ursula cackled as Ariel quickly rushed to make sure her father was not too injured.
"Ursula, no! I didn't want this," Ariel pleaded, only now realizing how grave a mistake she had made.
"Why not? Aren't you tired of following your dear daddy's orders," Ursula asked, clearly mocking the poor girl, while Triton just did his best to glare at Ursula for how she had manipulated his own daughter to use against him. Ursula's smile then became far more cruel as she then remarked, "Oh, yes. We had a deal, didn't we? Time for a little journey…To the dark world of the Heartless!"
Ursula was now fully prepared to unleash the trident's power on both father and daughter, or to leave them to the Heartless, until her faithful eels, Flotsam and Jetsam reported something that made her stop short. "We cannot find the Keyhole. The Keyhole is not here," the two eels said in near perfect sync.
"WHAT," Ursula exclaimed. She had been so sure that the Keyhole would be somewhere in Triton's palace, and yet her two precious eels were telling her it was not? If the Keyhole was not in the palace, then where in the ocean could it be?
Ursula's question was quickly answered by an unexpected source when the four adventurers from another world came swimming into the throne room, with Ventus shouting, "Guess Maleficent didn't tell you. When it comes to the Keyhole of a world, they're never where you would most expect them to be."
The sea witch glared at both master and apprentice, as well as their two companions before she just chuckled and said, "Be that as it may, I'm afraid you're still a little late, handsome. Even without the Keyhole, I still have the trident, and all of its power is now mine to command!"
With that, Ursula enshrouded herself in black smoke and disappeared from the palace, just as Sora was about to take a swing at her with Kingdom Key. The young boy glared at where the sea witch had just been, but he quickly became concerned when he noticed Ventus had paused and raised a hand to his mouth. "Are you okay, Ven," Sora asked.
"I think…I think I just threw up in my mouth a little," Ventus admitted, and you could not blame him. How would you react if someone like Ursula had referred to you as handsome, even as a mocking insult?
They put that aside for now, because the injured King Triton was more important right now, and Donald was immediately setting to work with using some healing magic in order to help. Sora and Ventus were quick to follow in that action as best as they could, but Triton just waved them off, all the while muttering, "The trident…We must get it back…All the ocean is in danger…As long as Ursula has it in her hands."
Realizing that Triton was not going to budge on this matter, Ventus immediately swam up and said, "Sir, you're too injured to do anything right now."
"Ven's right. We'll get the trident back and stop Ursula for you," Sora promised, having already started thinking along the same lines as his master.
"Even after what I said to you before? Why would you still help despite my making it clear that you are not welcome here," Triton asked, honestly surprised by Sora's declaration.
Sora paused for a minute, but he soon found that his answer was actually quite simple. More than that, it was the same thing that Ventus was trying to teach him earlier, and he felt like he was beginning to understand it better. "Because helping people is what we do. Even if others hate us for it, I'm not going to let it stop me from doing what I know is right, and that includes helping out those same people despite how they might feel about me."
Triton studied the boy for a minute, as if trying to sense any sort of deceit in him, and when he found none, he sighed in resignation and nodded, before he said, "If you truly intend to face Ursula, then you should know that she draws power from her cauldron. You must strike it with magic if you wish to defeat her."
"Got it," Ventus nodded, and he then turned to his three friends. "Come on, guys. We've got a sea hag to stop and an ocean to save."
"Wait, I'm going with you," Ariel called out, swimming up to the others when she did.
"Are you sure about, Ariel," Sora asked, not wanting Ariel to put herself in anymore danger for their sakes than she already had.
Ariel could appreciate what Sora was trying to do, and while she would admit that she was still a little hurt that he and the others had not told her the truth about where they were from, she was not going to just sit back and let them do this on their own. "Yes, I'm sure," Ariel confidently replied. "My father is hurt and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!"
"That's right. I'm right behind you, Ariel," Sebastian cheered in agreement, showing that he was going to be coming along too.
Ventus and Sora were not entirely sure just how much help the two could be in this fight, but they would admit that they would probably never make it in time without one or both of them to guide them to wherever Ursula's hideout was, so they really had no choice but to nod in agreement with them, and with that, they all swam off, knowing that Triton was watching them go with worry in his eyes and heart. It was not just for his daughter and friend though, but also for the four brave souls from another world as well, and he was honestly hoping that they would return safely so that he could properly thank them and apologize for how he had treated them from before. Of course, there was also another reason why he was wishing for the group's safe return, but he felt it would be best to keep that a secret for now.
Getting to Ursula's grotto proved to be a challenge, but not because it was hard to find. Thanks to guidance from both Ariel and Sebastian, the team was able to find her hideout very quickly. No, the part that made it difficult was that in order to get there, they had to battle their way through an army of undersea Heartless, all of which were making it clear that they were not going to get through without a very serious fight. Since he had not been with Sora and the others when they had gone looking for the crystal trident earlier, Ventus was still learning and adapting his fighting style to his merman form, but thankfully, the various battles did help him learn all the more faster. He was just glad that Sora, Donald, and Goofy did not have to worry about that too much, because they seemed to be doing much better than they had been after they first arrived on this world, and Sora proved it by unleashing his Radiant Blade Shotlock on a small group of Aquatanks that were supported by some Search Ghosts, all of which were standing guard outside the large cavern that Ursula made her home. The thing that really concerned some of their group though, was that Ursula's grotto appeared to be inside the skeletal remains of a massive sea creature that none of them could identify, while down on the floor, they also saw a number of strange, shriveled up creatures moaning and gazing upwards in despair. When he saw the creatures, Sebastian immediately revealed that they were most likely some of Ursula's victims who could not pay up on their part of the bargain that they had made with the sea witch. That not only gave them another reason to stop the sea witch, but also made some of them even more creeped out than they already were.
"Hey fellers, how come bad guys always seem to live in really creepy places like this, anyway? Why can't they ever live some place a little nicer," Goofy asked.
"Well, the creepy places probably don't cost all that much, if anything to live in, so there's that for one thing. Plus, if the place is creepy enough, it's likely to keep most people away so that they can plot in peace," Sora suggested with a shrug.
"You really think so," Ariel asked.
"Well it does make sense to me," Sora replied.
"While that may be true, Sora, there is one reason that I think might be a little more likely," Ventus told the kid.
"What's that?"
"Because they crazy," was the simple reply that the blonde gave his apprentice, and everyone had to nod in agreement and consent of that point.
All conversation came to halt when they finally reached the center of Ursula's hideout, and when they saw movement in the shadows, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was the sea witch herself, lying in wait for them. While some of the others were a bit hesitant in challenging Ursula to step into the light, Donald and Sebastian were both feeling much braver at the moment. Braver, or likely still running on adrenaline from the fights that they had been in earlier as well as the anger they felt at the sea witch's earlier manipulations. "Come out! You can't run," Donald shouted.
"Your time has come, Ursula," Sebastian declared in full agreement.
A minute later, all bravado that the two had been showing vanished in an instant when Ursula granted their request, and launched herself into the open with a sneer on her face that could have killed, making both duck and crab scream in fright. They soon had a much better reason to be afraid, because Ursula immediately tossed a potion into her cauldron, and somehow, they could all sense the magic that was moving from it to the sea witch. Ventus and Sora both immediately summoned their Keyblades, while Goofy jumped in front of Donald to block one of the eels from taking a bite out of Donald before batting it away with his shield. Using that new opening, Donald immediately gathered his courage and aimed an ice spell at Ursula's cauldron. The effects were instant, as it released a small wave of energy that seemed to cause Ursula to pause for a minute in her own charge, but she quickly shook it off and swung her tentacles at the two Keybearers. Thankfully, Ventus was able to summon out a Reflect spell just in time to save them, but he was not expecting another one of the two eels to suddenly chomp down on his shoulder from behind.
The eel did not stay on Ven for long though, because it soon let go so it could holler in pain after Sebastian snapped down on its tail with one of his claws. Ariel then swam in to bat it away from her friend with her tail, giving Ventus an opening to start analyzing the battlefield in an attempt to figure out the best strategy for dealing with the sea witch and her two little helpers. The blonde ended up not needing to do so though, because it turned out that Sora had already beaten him to it, and come up with a plan of his own. "Ven, you and Donald focus your attention on the cauldron," the boy called out. "Me and Goofy can handle Ursula while Ariel and Sebastian keep her pets off you guys."
Ventus nodded, glad to see Sora taking charge like that so easily, and immediately turned his attention to the cauldron as the kid suggested. With a plan now in place, the team was able to deal with Ursula much more easily. Sure, Sora and Goofy could not really do all that much against the sea witch, but they did figure out how to keep an eye open for when Ursula was most vulnerable, and that was always following a moment when Ven and Donald's magic attacks caused an explosion of energy to erupt from the cauldron. Meanwhile, the two who were fighting with magic made sure to keep an eye on both the eels and their master, since they knew that none of the others could make absolutely sure that the three enemies would leave them alone, and as such, they were almost always ready to lend a spell or two that kept Ariel and Sebastian out of danger, while leaving Sora and Goofy with less to worry about.
That did not mean that Ursula made it any easier for them, because every time it seemed like the magic in her cauldron was weakening, she made sure to toss another potion into it in order to strengthen its power. To make matters worse, many of the times when she did so, it was usually followed by a small explosion of magic that blasted Ventus and Donald away from the cauldron, while throwing everyone else off-balance and open to attack. Seeing this happen was what gave Sora all the reason he needed to try out his newest spell, and not for himself, but for his friends. So, after closing his eyes to better concentrate on how to shape the sphere of wind that he wanted to create, Sora aimed Kingdom Key towards Ventus, knowing that the next attack was likely going to be aimed at the blonde, and cried out, "Aero Shield!"
When the next explosive wave of magic was released, Ventus was already raising his arms in front of him in order to brace against the impact, but when it came, he was surprised to find it was significantly lessened. This caused Ventus to lower his arms and gaze at his immediate surroundings in awe, only to gaps in shock when he realized that a perfect Aero Shield had been formed around him, and he knew that he had not cast the spell, and last he checked Donald was currently firing ice spell after ice spell on the cauldron, so that could only leave one person. Glancing over to the person in question, Ven's suspicions were confirmed, as he saw Sora aiming his Keyblade towards him, and the blonde could only beam with pride afterwards before cheering, "Sora, you did it! You managed to cast a perfect Aero Shield!"
"Too bad it won't help save you," Ursula remarked, ending the small celebration and revealing that she was about to spin several tentacles into Sora.
Thinking quickly, Sora immediately raised his Keyblade in defense, while summoning up another Aero Shield, this time around himself, and just like before, the sphere of wind that he created was completely perfect with no gaps at all. He still felt a bit of a sting from Ursula's attack, but he knew that was nothing compared to how much injury he would have taken without the shield, so he still had to smile in relief at that. While Ursula just fumed at how stubborn the two Keyblade wielders were being in this fight, Ariel took the opportunity to rush Ursula and slap the sea witch in the face with her tail, before tossing one Ursula's own potions at her and the eels, and unleashing a chilling bit of ice magic as a result, freezing all three in place and giving Sora and Ventus just the chance that they needed.
A quick exchange of nods was all that the two needed before aiming their Keyblades over the three villains, until they both leapt back while glowing with a faint aura of energy, and shouted the names of their attacks in quick succession. "Pulse Bomb," Ven cried out.
"Typhoon Barrage," Sora shouted immediately after, and the two were soon raining down the powers of both Shotlocks on Ursula and her pets, peppering them with exploding energy blasts and mini whirlwinds that sent the three flying. When the two both released the finishers of their respective Shotlocks, it proved to be too much for Flotsam and Jetsam, and the eels both quickly vanished in a puff of black smoke, indicating that they had somehow been formed through the use of dark magic. That did not make Ursula's reaction to the destruction of her pets any less worrisome though, because she went from horrified to viciously angered in a matter of seconds, especially when she saw the heroes swimming up to show that they now had her cornered. Or so they believed.
"You'll pay for this," Ursula promised, and she immediately swam away into the shadows again, no doubt attempting to flee with the trident before they could secure it.
"Come on, after her," Ventus shouted. "We can't let her escape into open water, or we may never get the trident back!"
"Follow me! I know a shortcut," Ariel called out, immediately taking the lead.
"Hold on, Ariel. This might get a lot more dangerous, so you should probably stay back when the fighting starts again," Sora cautioned.
"I already told you that I'm going to help. I can't let you all fight my battles for me," Ariel insisted.
"Who said anything about you not helping," Ventus asked, and from the look on his face, Ariel just knew that the blonde had already cooked up quite the plan.
In the end, the team was not able to stop Ursula from reaching open water, but fortunately, she did not use that chance to escape, so they were sure that they had her cornered. At least, that was what they were thinking until they saw her brandishing the trident in her hand while it glowed and crackled with power. Clearly the old hag was not going to go down without a fight, and to be quite honest, that was fine with Sora. He had been hoping for a chance to go all out against an opponent ever since they got here. Add in the fact that Ursula had used Ariel for such selfish gain, and Sora was more than happy to take down the sea witch any way that he could, a feeling that was shared by the entire group.
When she saw them coming, Ursula's eyes narrowed into a glare, but she did have to chuckle a little when she shouted, "You pathetic fools! I rule the seas now!"
"Well I guess it's a good thing we're here to dethrone you, because any ocean ruled by you has to suck," Ventus quipped in reply as he summoned his Keyblade, with the others summoning out their own weapons in quick succession afterwards.
Ursula just snarled in response before shooting upwards above them as the whole area suddenly became enshrouded in a black mist that seemed to accompany a great deal of Ursula's spells. "The sea and all its spoils bow to my power," Ursula roared as she suddenly began to grow larger and larger, making the team swim upwards and back just so they could make sure they remained close to eye-level with her. "And through its wrath, you will all soon be sent to the dark world of the Heartless!"
When the smoke finally faded, the team turned to see that Ursula was now massive, and was wearing a crown on her head that was very similar to the one that Triton wore, along with a sinister grin that spread from ear to ear. Seeing this new transformation made Donald and Goofy both very nervous, while Ven and Sora could only glare up at the sea witch, proving that they were not about to back down. Still, that did not mean they were not worried. "Gawrsh, how are we gonna beat her now," Goofy asked, slowly moving his shield so that his head was hidden behind it.
"She's not only bigger, but more powerful too as long as she has the trident," Donald agreed as he quickly cast as many Aero Shields as he could on the team, along with any other defensive magic he could think to add in.
"Exactly. As long as she has the trident. We just need to pry that away from her, and we'll be able to take her down without much problems," Ventus pointed out to them, raising his Keyblade so that he was ready to strike. "Besides, like the old saying goes: the bigger they are…"
"The harder they fall," Sora finished, and he punctuated that statement with a blast of Typhoon Bombardment that immediately struck Ursula right in the face.
Apparently, the sea witch found that to be mildly irritating, because she simply shrugged it off before raising an arm upwards while her fingers glowed. The reason why came a moment later when the four found themselves having to swim every which way in order to avoid being struck by several lightning blasts, but that did not stop Donald or Ventus from firing a few spells at Ursula every chance that they had. Goofy then spotted an opening that he could use to get in close, and immediately did so, bashing both his shell and his shield right into Ursula's eye, making her flinch a little when he struck. While she was disoriented, Ventus took the chance to make a charge for her as well, but found himself unprepared for the moment when Ursula suddenly opened her big mouth and started sucking everything into it. As a result, Ven was unable to turn and swim in the opposite direction as fast as the others, and ended up being sucked in, much to the others' horror.
"Eww…Not very tasty," Ursula mocked with a grin, and she quickly prepared to unleash another round of magic on the remaining three.
Fortunately for the team, Ursula's next attack never came, because she was soon lurching forward as if she suddenly had an upset stomach and was about to throw up. This continued until suddenly, an explosion of light erupted from her mouth, knocking a few teeth out, and freeing Ventus, who turned out to be right in the middle of using the Meteor Shower Shotlock in order to escape being swallowed and then digested by the massive-sized sea witch. The blonde Keyblade master then turned around and charged forward once again, this time using the power of his Multivortex Shotlock when he did, and Ursula was quickly assaulted by multiple energy blades, followed shortly after by the star-filled whirlwind that was the finisher for Ven's personal Shotlock. Ventus then swam back from Ursula, peppering her with a couple blasts of Blizzaga, until he sent a quick look in Sora's direction that served as Sora's cue to act.
Working quickly, Sora immediately aimed his Keyblade at Ursula, focusing all of his aim on her, until he had finally charged up all the power he needed for Radiant Blade, and he instantly charged forward. Ursula was barely able to keep up with Sora's fast movements, and therefore was unable to do anything to block the numerous slashes that the boy had unleashed upon her. She was sure that she could stop him with a quick storm of lightning bolts like the one she had used earlier when Sora suddenly stopped, but that proved to be false, because Sora instantly rushed forward while thrusting his Keyblade through her. A second later, Sora appeared behind Ursula, and she found herself getting struck by multiple explosions of light magic that did not cease until Sora swung Kingdom Key downwards. When he looked back at Ursula, Sora honestly wished he could say that he was surprised that she was still upright, but after all that he had experienced on this journey and considering the power that the trident granted someone, he knew that was a wish that was not likely to be granted, so he immediately prepared to fire off a couple shots of ice magic like Ventus had a moment ago.
Sora never got the chance though, because Ursula suddenly took a deep breath, and released a blast of lightning from her mouth that made the four scatter once again, for what little good it really did. Even though he had only ended up being right on the edge of the beam, Donald still found himself being racked with severe pain that almost knocked him out of the fight had Goofy not rushed over to give him a quick potion or two in order to heal his wounds. The only downside was that it also left Goofy open to get hit by another blast of lightning showers from above, and Sora and Ventus were soon doing everything they could to both avoid that same shower while trying to reach their friends in an attempt to use Cure on them. Unfortunately, they were barely able to remain still for more than a few seconds, let alone long enough to cast even the simplest of spells, and at the rate they were going, Sora knew they would not last much longer on their own. That simple thought was what gave him the idea to reach into his belt that he only recently realized he had been wearing and pull out a summon charm, intending to use it to call in some backup.
When Ventus realized this, he immediately panicked a little, and shouted, "Sora, no! We can't use summon charms here! Anyone you call won't be changed like we were and instantly drown!"
"Not if we summon the right person, and I think this guy should be just fine," Sora replied, and he then raised the charm into the air while calling out the name of the person he was sending an SOS out to. "GENIE!"
A moment later, blue smoke filled the water as their big blue friend from Agrabah burst onto the scene, looking as though he had just been taking a shower or something since he had a shower cap on, while a scrub brush and a rubber ducky were in his hands. "Never fails! Ya get in the bath, and there's a rub at the lamp or a ring at the summon charm," Genie groused as he squeaked his ducky real quick with a smile before turning to Sora. "Hello?"
"Hey Genie, we need a hand," Sora greeted with a quick wave.
"You name it, you got it, Sora, my buddy," Genie declared, discarding his bath accessories as he did while taking in Sora's current appearance. "By the way, what's with the merman look?"
"Long story short, we're on a world where we needed to change to different forms both to survive and fit in, and right now, we need to stop Ursula from taking over," Sora explained as quickly as possible, indicating the sea witch at the end. "Any chance you could give us a little magic backup so that we can knock the trident she's holding out of her hands?"
"Are you kidding? That'll be a piece of cake," Genie declared, already spinning up a bit of magic to throw at Ursula.
The next thing Ursula knew, she was being hit by several magic beams along with some magic-filled torpedoes as Genie raced around her, occasionally splitting into two so that he could be himself and change into the submarine that was shooting the torpedoes. She would have shot back, but Donald and Ventus were quick to distract her from doing so by blasting her with a combination of ice and lightning magic, while Sora continued to race around and hit her with regular attacks with Goofy supporting him. At this point, with the added support from Genie, it was all Ursula could do to just raise her arms in a feeble defense, right up to the moment when, finally, one last powerful blast of combined magic from Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Genie caused the sea witch to lose her grip on the trident. Ursula immediately scrambled to retrieve it, but Goofy's thrown shield made her retract her arm before she had reached too far, and Genie and Donald did the same by throwing out some spells in her path as well. Just when she was about to reach for the trident again, she ended up being able to only gasp in shock upon seeing that someone else had gotten their hands on the trident first.
There, a little ways down below Ursula, with the trident now back to normal size and clutched firmly in her hands, was none other than Ariel, who was glaring up at Ursula with as much courage and determination as her two Keyblade wielding friends. Ursula was a little concerned at first, especially since she was clearly having trouble maintaining her gigantic size without the trident's magic, but she shrugged it off and somehow managed to maintain something close to that size as she smirked down at the little mermaid. "Just what do you think you're going to do with that, girl," Ursula asked. "You should really give it to someone who knows how to handle its power before you get somebody hurt."
"I intend to, but it won't be you who receives it, Ursula. After all, this belongs to my father," Ariel immediately retorted, and a second later, she was aiming the trident at Ursula, and unleashing its powerful magic on the sea witch in full.
When the powerful beam of magic struck her, Ursula could only howl in pain as she shrank down, her entire being seeming to course with uncontrollable electricity, until finally, she completely vanished in a plume of smoke and a powerful explosion. When everything cleared up again, the five looked every which way that they could in an attempt to find some trace of the sea witch, only to find absolutely nothing. It was almost as though she had completely evaporated or just simply vanished after Ariel had blasted her. Considering that Ariel was not her father and did not really know how to handle the trident's power, they could reason that the mermaid had unintentionally vaporized Ursula completely, but somehow, Ventus just knew that it was not likely to have been that easy, because villains like Ursula always found a way to survive, especially when others thought they were gone for good just because there was no trace left of them.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy all shared the blonde's sentiment, but at the moment they were more excited for Ariel than anything else. "Ariel, you were great," Donald praised once he had swam over to her.
"Yeah! That was a really good shot just now," Goofy agreed with his signature chuckle.
Ariel could only beam in response, even as a small blush formed on her face at the praise, until she finally said, "I guess it was okay, but I think I see why Daddy doesn't want just anyone to get their hands on this thing."
"Because he's the only one who can really handle its power and the responsibility that comes with it," Sora guessed.
"Well yes, there's that, but also because he's the only one I know who would be able to use the trident without being sent flying backwards. It really has a lot of kick behind it," Ariel joked in admittance, earning a round of laughter from everyone.
They all continued to laugh and joke until Ventus pointed out, "Well, I don't think that we can relax just yet. We still have a lot do here before we can more on, and there's still a chance that Ursula might have survived. If she did, she may come back again."
"Then I guess we'll just have to be ready for her," Ariel decided with a firm expression. "For now though, we should get the trident back to where it belongs."
Everyone had to agree with her on that, so after Sora had dismissed Genie, they all immediately turned tail towards the palace, where they knew that Triton would be waiting for them, and the good news that they would be bringing to him.
It took very little time to get back to King Triton's palace, and they were all happy to say that they did not have to worry about any Heartless on the way back. No doubt this was because of the fact that Ursula had been beaten, and given that the dark creatures acted on an animalistic instinct, it would only make sense that the rest of the pack would disperse once the alpha had been defeated in battle. Even so, it did not make Sora, Donald, Goofy, or Ariel any less nervous being in front of Triton again, because they were all sure that the sea king was going to get angry with them once more. Ventus on the other hand kept up a calm, neutral expression the entire time, giving away no indication of what he was feeling, but they all assumed he was hoping for the best outcome, so they all plucked up their courage and decided to try and have as much faith as the wielder of the Guardian Wind Keyblade seemed to have. That did not mean that Ariel was feeling any less guilty about how her actions had lead to all of this.
"Daddy, I'm so sorry," Ariel immediately said once she had given the trident back to her father.
"Please, don't be angry with her," Sora tried to plead, already forming a case for Ariel's defense in his head. Admittedly, it was one where he would be taking the fall for her, somehow, but he did not want Ariel to bear the brunt of her father's anger alone.
Surprisingly, Triton was not angry at all, but instead, he actually gave them a softer, understanding look that had a touch of remorse in it. "Why would I be angry with Ariel? After all, it's my fault, really," Triton informed them, his tone just as somber as his expression was, even as he directed all of his attention onto his daughter. "You followed Ursula because…I wouldn't let you follow your heart. And when you found that crystal, I lost my temper and destroyed it."
"Oh, yeah, the crystal! Why did you destroy it," Goofy asked. That had been bothering him for quite a while now, because he was sure that Triton did not do so without a good reason.
"That crystal held the power to reveal the Keyhole," Triton revealed. "The Keyhole is dangerous, and I had to keep others away from it at any cost, especially those who I believed would use it to do harm to this world." Triton then paused for a moment to let that sink in, and he could see that they all appeared to understand where he was coming from in saying that, so he immediately looked to Ventus and Sora and said, "Keybearers, I have one more request of you: Seal the Keyhole. My trident also holds the power to reveal the Keyhole. Will you do it?"
"Of course! That's what we had in mind from the start," Sora happily proclaimed.
What came next proved to be shocking for most of the group, because the next thing they knew, Triton was smiling a little more widely as he revealed, "Yes, I know."
"You what," was the shared exclamation of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ariel.
"But…But how did…When did you," Donald stuttered, being the only one who actually could form even that much of a coherent sentence.
This time, Triton sported a full-blown grin when he replied, "Don't you remember? I already told you that your master already told me everything."
When he saw the four turn surprised and slightly suspicious gazes at him, Ventus could no longer keep up his attempts to appear unassuming, and allowed a large, sheepish yet slightly mischievous grin to cross his face. "Okay, so…I may have told a little bit of a tiny fib when I said that he had squeezed it out of me," Ven admitted.
"Then why didn't you tell us? And why did it look like King Triton didn't believe you when he destroyed the crystal," Donald questioned.
"Because I asked him too," Ventus replied, and he immediately dove into his explanation. "I'm sure you already know this, but after you guys left with Ariel earlier, I hung back to speak with His Majesty, and I spent that time telling him our whole story…"
King Triton was silent with wide-eyed shock when Ventus had finished telling him about the mission that the Keyblade master and his friends were on. Truly, the struggles that this young man had gone through up until now were something to be admired, and that was without accounting for the fact that he was having to teach a new student as much as he could and as quickly as possible while it was all happening. Still, what he found more shocking was the idea that Ursula would actually go so far as to align herself with someone like Maleficent. Oh yes, Triton had heard of the Mistress of all Evil; her dark powers and reputation was well known throughout many different worlds, especially since it had long been said that Maleficent was the one who had doomed her own world to eternal darkness. The fact that this young man, his apprentice, and their two friends were willing to face both her and these Heartless while doing what they could to keep the other worlds safe from harm truly showed their true intentions far more than anything else to Triton, and it made his next decision very easy.
"It would seem that I was too quick to judge you and your friends, Master Ventus, and if you truly are a student of Mickey's, then I can only offer my deepest apologies, for what they are worth," King Triton began to say.
"Wait. Do you mean to say that you know Mickey," Ventus asked.
Triton merely chuckled in reply before he said, "I doubt I need to tell you that you and your apprentice are not the first Keyblade wielders to ever come into my ocean. Though I will admit that Mickey is the only one who I actually respect and consider as a friend. That said, allow me to make up for my earlier harsh treatment of you all by showing you just where the Keyhole is. I would much rather have it sealed up before Ursula and these Heartless can get their claws on it."
"Actually, Your Majesty, there's something else I'd like you to help with first. It's in regards to something that I'm trying to teach my apprentice," Ventus revealed.
"Oh? And what would that be," Triton asked, now very curious. It was not often that one had a chance to help teach a future Keyblade master after all, let alone by request of said prospect's own master.
"You see, there's a specific lesson that I'm trying to teach Sora, but I don't think it's really going to be able to sink in for him unless he has first-hand experience in dealing with the situation involved with it. And if you'll pardon me if I seem to be stepping out of line, given your earlier display to both your daughter, myself, and my friends, I believe you may be the best person to help with that," Ventus explained.
"No offense taken," Triton waved off. He was well aware of how harshly he had treated his visitors earlier, and was none too eager for any reminders. "What is it that you would have me do though?"
"I simply ask that you appear as though you would prefer it if we were not welcomed here. Basically act as though you believe that Keyblade wielders are nothing but trouble, and right to the point where it might make Sora question if he's actually helping," Ventus started to explain, while Triton nodded along in understanding, gaining a small smirk of excitement the entire time the blonde spoke.
"So then, everything that happened back in Ariel's grotto, from destroying the crystal, upsetting Ariel, and basically telling us to get lost was all just an act," Sora asked in disbelief.
"Uh…Not everything," Ventus sheepishly admitted while rubbing the back of his head in a similar manner. "The plan was simply for King Triton to reveal that he found out our secret and wanted us gone. That whole scene with the crystal and making Ariel swim off in such sadness was definitely not part of the plan. To be honest, I had not really thought about what would happen if Ariel was there to even witness the whole thing or how she would react afterwards, so that was my bad."
"Don't shoulder all the blame onto yourself, Master Ventus. As I said before, I am just as much at fault here. My anger did indeed become much more real when I saw and destroyed the crystal, along with seeing that Ariel had disobeyed me, but I must admit, I do feel like it made the whole thing a little more convincing. If I had known that Ursula would have used it to her advantage though, I would not have gone along with it," Triton admitted.
"But just what was this lesson that Sora needed to learn so badly, anyway," Goofy asked.
"Yeah, what did you make him go through all that for in the first place," Donald added.
Ventus just smirked as he said, "I believe Sora already answered that earlier with what he told King Triton before we left to face Ursula." While everyone gave him a small look of confusion, Ven immediately turned to his apprentice and explained, "Sora, the whole point here was to teach you that there will be times where you will encounter people who will not be thankful of what actions we must take as Keyblade wielders in order to protect the balance between light and darkness. Triton's little stunt may have been…partially an act, but there will be people out there who will hate us for the simple reason that we are Keyblade wielders and will refuse our help no matter how good or noble our intentions are. Despite that though, we can't do any less than what you decided to do here today. Like you said earlier, no matter how people feel about us, we shouldn't let that stop us from doing what we know is right and helping out, because the minute we do, we start proving them right. It doesn't matter what anyone else says, be it our enemies, our friends, or even a random stranger. They don't decide who you are; you do, and not by words alone, but by our choices and the actions we take. Even if an entire world hates us, we can never let that stop us from doing our duty as Keyblade wielders. Or Keyblade wielders who fight for what is truly good and right for the worlds at least."
Sora let all of that sink in for a minute until he finally managed to let a true smile cross his face, and said, "I understand, Ven."
"I know you do. What you told King Triton earlier served as all the proof I needed to show you understood," Ventus informed the kid with a proud, slightly teasing smile, even as he rubbed Sora's spiky head of hair with a chuckle. After getting a couple more laughs out of his apprentice, he then turned to the others and said, "All right, now that the big lesson moment is over, let's go seal up the Keyhole."
"But where is the Keyhole," Ariel asked.
"You should know better than anyone, Ariel. It's in your grotto," King Triton chuckled knowingly.
"Really? Well, let's get going then," Goofy declared.
"Why am I not surprised? Everything on this world seems to revolve around her," Kairi groaned, having finally spoken up since her little spat with Sora earlier.
When Sora heard her, he knew that he was not going to be able to put this conversation off any longer, and told his friends, "You guys go on ahead. There's…something I've gotta do first real quick."
While the others gave Sora a confused look, wondering what he could possibly have to do before sealing the Keyhole, Ventus just stared at him knowingly before asking, "Let me guess: you have to gather your thoughts?"
Sora was about to say that was not the case when he saw Ventus throw a subtle wink at him, indicating that the blonde already knew what Sora was going to actually be doing and had given him an easy cover story. "Yeah. I mean, with everything that's happened, I would like a moment to just slow down and process it all."
"Take your time," Ventus reassured him, and the all swam off once Triton had passed his daughter the trident once more, since he was still not quite well enough to reveal the Keyhole himself just yet.
When he was sure that he was alone, Sora took a deep breath and immediately put all of his concentration onto the topic at hand: clearing up this whole misunderstanding between him and Kairi. "Listen, Kairi…"
"Save it. I get it, Sora," Kairi interrupted. " You don't like me bad-mouthing your new girlfriend, and I'll admit that Ariel does seem really cool, but how do you think I'm going to react to all of this? Especially since I'm…"
"Kairi, I don't like Ariel like that! She's just my friend," Sora shouted, feeling like he could not keep it contained in his mind. Once he realized he had shouted that out loud for all to hear, Sora immediately ducked out of sight and checked to see if anyone had noticed, sighing in relief when it seemed that no one had. "I told you before, yes, I do think that Ariel is pretty, and I like that we have a lot in common, but I only think of her as a friend. Besides, if my feelings for her did go any deeper, I'd honestly say that she would be a bit more like a sister than anything else."
"You…You don't…Really," Kairi asked, stuttering a little in shock, and a bit of embarrassment, considering what she had almost admitted a second ago. There was no need to rush into revealing that her feelings for Sora might be more than friendship just yet, after all.
"Yeah, really. Besides, I can't like Ariel that way, because…Well, because…" Sora was now stuck. Not because he was unclear of the reason as to why he could not like Ariel in the way that Kairi had been suggesting, but because of who he would be explaining that reason to. As had been mentioned before, when it came to admitting his feelings for Kairi, Sora was just too shy to actually do it, even though pretty much everyone other than the girl in question already knew about it. "Know what? Never mind."
"How about no," Kairi denied. "What other reason is there besides just thinking that she would be more like a sister to you than anything else?"
"I-it's nothing. Just forget about it," Sora insisted a little too quickly, feeling heat rising to his cheeks already. Kairi must have noticed this, because she continued to persist in getting an answer, until Sora finally found a compromise that would pull his ass out of this. "How about I tell you after we finally get your body back, knock Riku back to his senses, and save the worlds?"
Kairi hummed in thought, considering this for a minute, until she finally asked, "Why can't you tell me now? Is it some big secret or something?"
"Not exactly, but I feel like this is something that I should only tell you face-to-face, and that it's not something I should be telling you if we weren't on the verge of losing all the worlds to darkness or something, because it would only spoil it."
Hearing Sora say that was all that Kairi needed to know that she was not going to get any more out of Sora than that, but she had to admit, it did have a certain appeal to it that made her excited for when she finally found out the big secret, so how could she possible refuse. "Okay, you win. But I expect you to spill all the details the minute all of that happens."
"Deal," Sora agreed, albeit with a little nervousness. Now on top of everything else, he had to start planning on how to confess his feelings to the girl he loved?! Some days, it was just too much for Sora to even get out of bed, and he had a feeling that he was going to have a hard time planning anything for that. It was not going to be made any easier since any plans he came up with would instantly clue Kairi in if he was not careful about when he was thinking about them, since she could hear all of his thoughts while she was inside his heart.
By the time Sora arrived in Ariel's grotto, the others had already revealed and sealed up the Keyhole, and from the blush and small smile on his apprentice's face, Ventus had to guess that the boy's conversation with Kairi had gone well. It was actually right at the moment that Sora had swam in that Ariel remembered what she had learned from Ursula, and her curiosity just demanded that she ask her friends whatever she could about it. At that moment though, only one question really came to mind. "Tell me, Sora, Ven. Your world, what's it like?"
"Oh, right. Almost forgot you found out about that," Ventus admitted with a small cringe.
"Yeah. About that…Sorry for lying to you, Ariel," Sora added, knowing that was likely where Ven was going to be leading into with this part of the conversation.
Ariel just chuckled with an understanding smile and said, "It's okay. Besides, if you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too." She then let out a small sigh as she added, "So many places I want to see…I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it."
"Good," Ventus smiled, surprising Ariel a little. She had thought that he was going to tell her to forget about it or something, but from the smile the blonde was wearing, which matched the one that Sora was giving her, he really meant it. "Never even think about giving up on your dreams, Ariel, because as long as you believe in them, anything can become possible."
"Just do us all a favor, and try to avoid going to anymore sea witches for help in the future," Sora cautioned, half-jokingly.
Everyone immediately got a good chuckle or two out of that, until they heard a small moan from the entrance to the grotto and saw Sebastian sitting there with his head in his claws, no doubt still keeping a watch on Ariel for her father. The man may have been more willing to let Ariel follow her heart now, but that did not mean that he was going to stop being so protective of her. "Well, if you find it, do me a favor and leave me out of it," Sebastian practically begged.
That caused the chuckles to turn into full, good-natured laughter, and they were all grateful for it. Moments like this may not come up very often in the days that were to come for any of them, and the roads ahead of them all may have been long, but they were all more than happy to just stop and take in moments like these: times when they could just relax and enjoy a bit of happiness with friends. There were the moments that they would all know to treasure most, no matter what happens.
AN: I'm gonna be totally honest here. I honestly thought this would be a world that I would split into two chapters, at least until I got halfway through the entire Atlantica adventure and realized that the chapter was still really short. So, now the whole thing is here, and like that, we've got the Keyhole sealed, Kairi's jealousy issues appeared and became resolved, another bad guy is down, and Sora's now learned a very important lesson. I know it's just a lesson that anyone can learn from most Spider-Man media, but this is a fanfiction where Spidey comics don't exist, while the web-head himself is a hero from another world.
Kairi: I kinda liked how things were between me and Sora at the end. [blushes a little]
Riku: Yeah, you would. You basically haggled him into hurrying the f...
AN&Kairi: RIKU!
Riku: What? I was going to say freak. Haggled him into hurrying the freak up and confessing his feelings to her.
AN: Oh, that's okay then. And yeah, that may technically be true, but don't think that he's going to come right and say "I love you, Kairi!" the minute she's back to normal. He will allude to it very heavily though if nothing else. Moving on, everyone caught that little Aladdin reference when Sora summoned Genie, right?
Sora: Speaking of which, I don't remember being able to summon anything at all during the game when we were on worlds like Atlantica.
AN: Yeah, in all honesty, that made sense for all the summons except Genie. We all saw in Aladdin that the guy can survive underwater, so you have to wonder why you could not at least summon him while everyone else was a no-go? Must've been too hard to code or something, plus, like it was mentioned before, Genie would be the only thing that they could summon since all the others they have would instantly drown while they were on Atlantica.
Ventus: How about the fact you added in that Triton knew Mickey? Do you think that's true in the canon series as well?
AN: Honestly, it would not surprise me that much. Everybody loves Mickey, and the guy definitely gets around a lot, even without being a Keyblade master. Aside from that, we've now got another page from Pooh's storybook, and just to be clear, we also got another Ansem report as well, which will be mentioned and referenced in the next chapter, btw. And let's forget that Ventus finally taught Sora the defensive version of Aero, and I went into a little explanation on the difference between defensive and offensive magic, or at least how that works in this story, so there's that little technical know-how for you all.
Donald: You're just grasping at straws on what to talk about now, aren't you?
AN: Yeah pretty much. What do you want from me? Nothing really changed that much here this time around, and I couldn't really do that much to change things even if I tried, and I did. Sometimes things can't really be altered to a great extent though. Give me a break. Well, hopefully we'll see a lot more excitement on the next world.
Goofy: Does that mean we're going to see Halloween Town and all that spooky stuff next?
AN: Nope, not yet.
Goofy&Donald: [sigh in relief]
AN: Don't get me wrong, you guys will be going there, but you're going to go a more roundabout way first, because the next world is one that I've just been itching to get to for some time now. Jack Skelington will make his Dual Keys debut, but before he does, we're going to set sail on a different ship. Want to know what I mean by that? Then get Onto the Preview!...
The gang may no longer be hanging out under the sea, but they're not going to be able to get rid of their sea-legs just yet, because their journey onwards through interspace is met with an unexpected interception once again. This time though, it comes in the form of a pirate ship, aboard which Sora finds Riku and the thing that he had been searching for all across the worlds for all this time: Kairi's body. But that's not the only thing that Sora will find on this vessel of scurvy dogs, and he's not the only one who's going to find some friends aboard the ship, either, because Ventus is going to be having a little reunion or two of his own, too. Want to find out what's coming for them next? Just think of any happy little thought, next time.
Yep, you've likely guessed it right by now. Next world is none other than the one at the second star to the right, and straight on till morning: Neverland! And I'm sure if you all know BBS, you know what that means for our boy, Ventus. Until then...
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!