I LIVE! Sorry about the long pause between chapters here. I had meant to do a longer stretch of chapters for this, but I got stuck on two scenes in chapters that I was writing ahead of this. (I'm still stuck on one scene, but that's due to content and it's something that I don't have to worry about skipping over until I figure it out.)

This fight scene gets pretty violent, and the Pirates of the Caribbean plot is some of the heavier stuff in this story. So if anyone thinks I should up the rating to T, let me know in a comment, please.

Without further ado, on with the show!

Chapter 143

Open Fight

"The who now?" Peter asked, confused by Sora, Riku, Hook, Donald, and Goofy's expressions of horror. The children traded similarly perplexed glances and shrugged at each other.

"The Grim Reaper of the sea," Hook explained, finally regaining the ability to speak. "Its captain, Davy Jones, appears to take the souls of dead sailors to the land beyond. Or he'll have you become a part of his monstrous crew."

"We faced off against him some time ago," Sora said. "The monster he controls, the Kraken, nearly killed us, and it dragged a friend of ours down to Davy Jones' Locker."

"But what's he doing here?" Donald wondered aloud. "No one here's dying." He checked an unconscious pirate's pulse, then nodded to confirm that, indeed, everyone was very much alive and well.

"I don't know. But we'd better be on our guard," Riku said. He turned to the Lost Boys and the dreaming children. "You should probably take cover. We don't know what Jones wants, and we don't want to provoke anything."

Peter sighed. "Oh, all right. You heard him, men. Take cover in the hall," he instructed. They all complied, although some were slightly dismayed as they wanted to see what was going to happen, with Peter closing the door behind him. Sora cast Curaga on Hook's crew, then he, Riku, Donald, and Goofy hid at the top level, watching for when Davy Jones would approach Hook.

Hook waited for a few minutes, only for nothing to happen. Wondering what was going on, he raised the telescope again and peered through at the Flying Dutchman. He saw Davy Jones on the deck, glaring directly at him, and shivered. Suddenly, Jones was gone, and a split-second later he appeared directly in front of him, his sinister face taking up the full space visible in the telescope. Hook let out a yelp and jumped back in fright.

Sora and his friends jumped in shock, although they were able to remain quiet. They had seen black and green sludge materialize from the deck in front of Hook and coalesce into a blob of goop, from which Davy Jones suddenly rose up.

The pirates shook in their boots, but Captain Hook put on a brave face, which Riku thought, had he not just seen the man frozen in terror only a moment ago, he would have believed was genuine. "Ahoy, Davy Jones, ferryman of lost sailors," Hook greeted.

"James Bartholomew Hook, captain of the Jolly Roger," Jones said. He regarded his crew in turn. "Starkey. Wibbles. Bill Jukes. Black Murphy. Mullins. Turk."

"What business brings you aboard my ship?" Hook asked. "You can see that no one here is dead or dying."

"I have not come for your souls. But I expect your life to be the price."

"What?! Why? What have we done to draw your ire?"

"I am to purge the seas of all pirate filth," Jones declared, although he did not seem to carry any pride or determination in his tone, as if he were just regurgitating an order.

"Purge the… But you were a pirate! You were a Pirate Lord in the first Brethren Court! Why have you turned on us?" Hook protested.

Davy Jones took a folded-up parchment out of his coat and gave it to Hook, who opened the mucus-covered paper and read it. "The East India Trading Company? You're privateer to them?" Hook spat in disbelief and disgust.

"You and your crew can surrender yourselves, after which you will be tried and hanged for the crime of piracy, or else you shall die here by my hand," Jones said, dodging the question.

Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy watched and listened to the whole exchange. "East India Trading Company? Haven't we heard that somewhere before?" Donald mused.

"Some of their merchants were at Queen Elsa's coronation," Goofy recalled.

"Norrington!" Sora gasped, putting the pieces together. "He got away with Davy Jones' heart right out from under our noses. He must've gotten away from the Dutchman's crew and given it to the people at the East India Trading Company."

"I see. So that's why he's doing what they're telling him to, even if he doesn't want to," Riku added.

Hook's baffled expression contorted into a grimace of rage. "I will not submit my life to some tight-lipped traders!" he spat.

"Hmph. Very well, then." Jones drew his sword and struck, but Hook was just as fast and blocked the stab.

"Oop. That's our cue." Sora jumped out of his hiding place and cast Blizzaga at Jones, hitting his sword arm and encasing it in a layer of frost. He then jumped to the bottom of the stairs and hit Jones in the chest with his Keyblade, knocking him over the railing.

Unfortunately, only a second after he hit the water, Jones rematerialized on the Flying Dutchman, which had gotten within firing range during the exchange.

"We need to get everyone out of here," Riku said upon noticing the other ship's proximity.

Sora nodded and ran through the door to warn the Lost Boys. "Get Smee and come on! The Dutchman is going to fire on us!" Peter and Nibs quickly went belowdecks and returned with Smee, whom Nibs had slapped awake. They returned to the deck, where Riku and Goofy were hovering to let the pirates grab onto their legs and make a chain. Sora lifted off of the ground and let Hook and Smee wrap their arms over his shoulders. He took the lead, and everyone flew back to the island.

Davy Jones sneered as he watched them fly off. "After them!" he ordered.

"Aye, aye!" one of his crewmen replied, before he and some others jumped overboard and into the water. They sank to the bottom of the ocean and marched to the island. When they reached the cliff, they began to climb.

When the party, which now included Captain Hook and his pirates, all landed on the cliff, they all took a moment to catch their breaths. "It doesn't look like they're firing," one of the pirates remarked. Some of the other pirates breathed sighs of relief, glad that they were not about to lose their ship.

"It probably isn't their priority, seeing as how we're not on it," Riku said.

"Davy Jones can't set foot on land. He won't be able to follow us here," Sora explained. Hearing something, he looked over the side of the cliff and sighed in dismay. "But his crew can."

"Eh, no worries. This is our turf. We have the advantage," Peter said confidently. "Right, men?"

Sora stepped up to the Lost Boys' leader. "Peter, we need to get these kids out of here," he said, gesturing to the dreaming children. He then turned to the Lost Boys. "You should get to safety, too."

"What? But we wanna fight!" Slightly protested.

Sora shook his head. "This isn't a swashbuckling game anymore. Davy Jones is very dangerous and incredibly ruthless."

Peter tried to wave it off. "Oh, come on. How bad could it…" He trailed off as he got a good look at Sora's face, and he realized the severity of the matter at hand. Sora wore an expression that he had never seen on him before. He was scared. He simply nodded, then turned and knelt in front of the first dreaming child. "I wish you goodnight, and I hope to adventure with you again," he whispered as he tapped a finger against the boy's forehead in three spots. The boy closed his eyes and vanished in a shimmer of light. Peter repeated this gesture with the rest of the dreaming children until they were all gone.

He stood up and turned to the Lost Boys. "Men, I'm going to need you to return to camp." They all nodded, clearly dismayed, and then turned and ran, retreating to their hideout. Peter turned back to Sora. "Alright. Now what?"

Sora was silent for a moment as he tried to come up with a plan. "I… I don't know if there's a way we can actually beat them. They kept getting back up no matter what we did to them." He realized that he could not think of anything that they could do to win.

"We'll figure something out," Riku assured the group. "We might at least be able to force them to retreat."

The grunts of the Dutchman's crew grew louder. "Perhaps we should find some cover," Hook suggested.

Sora nodded. "Alright. This way!" The group ran into the jungle. When their pursuers reached the top of the cliff, they followed after them.

The group ran as fast as Donald and the slowest pirates could, but came to a stop when a jingling ball of light descended from the treetops and floated in front of them. It flew closer and they saw that it was Tinker Bell.

"Tink!" Peter said, surprised to see the fairy.

"How'd she find us?" Goofy asked.

"She has a knack for it," Peter replied.

"If she's here, then that means…" Sora did not need to finish, as Kairi, Aqua and Mickey dropped out of the tree in front of them.

"Hey, guys!" Kairi greeted with a wave. "What did we miss?"

"Where are the kids?" Mickey asked.

Aqua raised an eyebrow as she regarded Hook and his crew. "Is that your pirate rival?" she asked Peter.

Hook gave her an awkward wave. "Hello."

"Long story short, we got in a fight with Hook and his pirates. Then Davy Jones showed up, and he wants Hook dead," Sora summarized.

Kairi, Aqua and Mickey went completely silent, stunned by the development. Aqua was the first to respond. "Isn't he the—"

"Yes," Kairi interrupted, not keen on hearing the fiend's lore again.

"And he's big trouble," Mickey added.

Aqua nodded, understanding the danger. "Got it. So, what's the plan?"

"Still working on that," Sora admitted, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Hmm… Well, last time, we couldn't take them out or even wear them down," Mickey recalled, his hand rubbing his chin as he was deep in thought. "But maybe we can trap them, incapacitate them so that whatever they try to do, they won't be able to keep fighting."

"That's brilliant!" Donald commended. He shot Sora a teasing side-eye. "At least someone here can be that smart." Sora pouted and glared at the duck while Riku and Kairi laughed.

Tinker Bell jingled irritably at Donald. "Language, Tink," Sora scolded the fairy, recognizing one of the phrases that he had learned to understand during the time she was with them in the last legs of his first journey.

"There are still a lot of them. I think we should split up. Divide and conquer," Riku suggested.

"Good idea. Let's see…" Sora sized everyone up. Excluding Tinker Bell, there were sixteen of them in all. They could do four teams of four, or two teams of five and one team of six. The seven pirates, not counting the captain, seemed to be interchangeable in terms of ability, although Smee appeared to be more out-of-shape compared to his colleagues. There were five Keyblade wielders, as well as a sixth magic user—If there were three teams, they could be divided two to a team. Hook ought to be partnered with someone who knew his tricks and could work well with him. He expected Tinker Bell to accompany Peter Pan, no matter who else is with him (she could be helpful with reconnaissance).

"Okay. Kairi, Peter, Tink, and you two—" He pointed to two pirates whose names he did not know "—you're with me. We'll take the left path. Riku, King Mickey, Captain Hook, and you two—" pointing to two more pirates "—go straight. Aqua, Donald, Goofy, Smee, and you guys—Sorry, I heard your names, but I don't know who's who.— You take the right path."

"Alright," Riku said. Giving the other teams a thumbs-up, he ran off with Mickey, Hook, and the two pirates who had been assigned to his group. Sora and Aqua's groups went their separate ways, slicing bark off of trees and cutting down branches to make sure that the Dutchman's crew knew that they had split up.

The mutated pirates caught up to that position. The squad included: the piranha-faced boatswain, Jimmy Legs, who had a cat-o-nine-tails at his hip; the angler fish-headed crewman nicknamed Angler; the barnacle-encrusted Clanker, who carried a chain-shot in each hand; Koleniko, who had features that belonged to a pufferfish, which resulted in him having spikes jutting out of his face and arm; the hermit crab-headed Hadras; the eel-headed Morey; the merciless Crash, who had a tentacle in place of his right foot, tube worms for hair, mandibles for a mouth, and tendrils sticking out of one eye, and who carried a sawfish's snout for a sword; Palifico, a man who appeared to be largely made of coral and had anemones for eyes and who had a dao and a cutlass fused to his wrists; Manray, a stingray-headed man who carried both a sword and an axe; Old Haddy, a crewman who was covered in mussels and wore shark tooth-tipped knuckle dusters on his hands; Quittance, a crewman who had fused with a starfish; and Two Head, two brothers who had been fused together into one being.

Jimmy Legs stopped and raised a hand to instruct his fellows to do the same. He looked around, noticing the three fresh paths. "They've split up. We ought to do the same. Kill them all, but Hook is our priority. If we lose him, the captain will keelhaul the lot of us!" The other crewmen talked over one another, voicing their assent while also remarking on their fear of their captain's retribution. They picked a path, with some arguing to make sure they divided themselves evenly, and followed the paths.

After running for another mile, Sora, Kairi, Peter, Tinker Bell, and their pirate compatriots, who introduced themselves as Starkey and Wibbles, stopped and faced each other. Peter instructed Tinker Bell to keep watch for their enemies. "Okay. They seem to recover from any wounds. So what can we do to incapacitate them completely?" Sora asked the group.

"We could freeze them. Trap them in blocks of ice," Kairi suggested.

"Hack off their limbs and hang them from trees!" Starkey laughed. "See 'em try getting up from that!"

Sora winced. "Okay. I'm not really comfortable with that, but it's a valid option."

"I think the best way to get one over on them would be an ambush," Peter advised. "We could get up into the trees and get the jump on them from above."

"Good idea. You two—" Sora pointed to the pirates "—climb up into those trees."

Starkey and Wibbles nodded and complied, climbing up two trees behind them and sitting on branches. Sora, Kairi and Peter flew up and sat down on branches of their own, while Tinker Bell stood on Peter's shoulder.

They waited a few minutes, staying silent as they waited for the Dutchman's crewmen to approach. They soon heard footsteps and heavy breathing. Kairi pinched her nose shut, disgusted by a putrid, rotten odor. Moments later, four mutant seamen approached: Koleniko, Hadras, Manray, and Quittance. The seamen stopped and looked around, realizing that the trail had gone cold. Sora nodded to Kairi, then silently counted to three on his fingers. On three, they jumped off of their branches and cast Thundaga, Firaga, and Aerora. Quittance stumbled around, steam rising off of his body that was singed from the lightning. Koleniko and Manray let out cries of pain as their arms, which they raised to brace themselves against the Fire spells, were burned. Hadras was tossed around by the wind spell like a ragdoll before colliding with a tree, knocking his head off. Peter laughed at Hadras' incident as he flew around and swooped by, slicing at Manray and Quittance with his dagger and snatching fruit from trees to throw at Koleniko, where they became embedded on his spines.

The pirates dropped out of the trees and attacked. Manray blocked Wibbles' sword strike and raised his axe to chop him, but Sora caught the blade in the teeth of his Keyblade, then twisted it to pull the weapon out of the crewman's hand. While Manray was stunned by the surprise move, Wibbles took the opportunity to stab him in the gut, then shove him to the ground. Manray pushed himself back to his feet seconds later, hissing, the wound in his gut being covered up with slime and barnacles, and attacked the pirate.

With Hadras' body unable to hear the head's instructions, he was easy pickings for Starkey, who hacked at his limbs and torso. His sword was not able to sever Hadras' arms and legs, but he was able to do enough damage to the tendons that the body crumpled into an immobile heap, at least for a minute before the tissue sewed itself back together.

Koleniko removed the fruits from his spines and threw them at Kairi and Peter, who either dodged them or slapped them out of the air. He swung his sword wildly at them, but they parried his blows and flew around to hit him from different angles. He managed to knock Peter off balance and prepared for a follow-up strike, but Tinker Bell dove feet-first into his eye, causing him to roar in pain and instinctively put a hand over the eye, only to poke it with the spines on his palm. Kairi winced, then cast Firaga at him.

Sora traded blows with Quittance, parrying many of the larger crewman's attacks while taking some hits and connecting with some of his own. He rolled under a swing and let his foe get his sword stuck in a tree. Quittance threw a punch at Sora, but the boy dodged and swung his Keyblade down, chopping his arm off at the elbow. He gagged as he saw something that did not look like human blood pour from the wound and heard the starfish-man's anguished screams, but then tensed up as his foe stopped screaming and stood up, the wound suddenly no longer bleeding. He watched in disbelief as the stump stretched out until it became a new, fully-functional arm. When Quittance pulled his sword out of the tree, Sora blasted him with Firaga, then Blizzaga, and took flight.

Manray knocked Wibbles down and retrieved his axe to kill his foe, but Kairi cast Slow on him, then cast Zero Gravity on Wibbles, grabbed him by the arm, and flew away with him. Quittance slugged Starkey in the back of the head, knocking him down and allowing Hadras' body to get back up. Peter flew in and stabbed Quittance in the shoulder, then dragged Starkey away and kicked Hadras' head away before his body could pick it up. He kicked the head like a soccer ball a few more times before kicking it up at Koleniko, where the cheek became impaled on Koleniko's shoulder spines. He helped Starkey to his feet and, seeing Tinker gesture for them to run, led him away from the crewmen.

Quittance ripped Hadras' head off of Koleniko's shoulder and threw it at the lumbering body's chest. As they looked around for their foes, Koleniko pointed up. The others looked up and saw Sora flying down straight toward them. When he was ten feet above them, the teen pointed his Keyblade at them and shouted "Flare!" A ball of dull red light trailed downward from the weapon's tip and, once it was between the four crewmen, exploded with immense force, blasting them all backward and causing the earth in a five-foot radius to rupture and nearby branches to shatter. Sora turned up to fly horizontally and grinned. That is so cool, he mused.

As the crewmen were recovering from the blast, which had blasted off some barnacles and charred some flesh, Kairi flew in and invoked "Magnega!" A shining vortex materialized and lifted the crewmen off of the ground, pulling them in and spinning them around itself. She and Sora flew around them, casting Blizzaga. After several spells, Sora finished the attack with a Grand Magic casting of Blizzaza. There was a bright blue-white blast that enveloped the crewmen, which faded to show them encased in a large block of ice, the crewmen floating in the middle as they were still being tossed around by the Magnet spell.

Laughing, Sora and Kairi flew off and high-fived. "It worked!" Sora cheered. He had watched Aqua cast Grand Magic and Donald practice it while they trained in the Mirage Arena (between chapters of Unei's book). While Donald had pulled off more spells (and Mickey showed that he was already capable of fourth-tier White Magic spells and did not require the buildup), Sora had practiced as well and only managed to cast a Firaza finisher in the last training session. Having pulled off a different fourth-tier finisher, he was excited to see that he was making good progress in his magical growth.

They reunited with Peter, Tinker Bell, and the pirates, who were laughing at what happened to the crewmen. "That worked perfectly! How clever I am! O the cleverness of me!" Peter boasted.

Kairi put her hands on her hips and shot Peter a slightly-indignant yet playful glare. "Hey! That was my idea, you remember?"

"That's just how he is," Tinker Bell jingled.

"Well, that's four down. Want to go check on the others?" Sora asked.

Jimmy Legs, Angler, Morey, and Palifico charged toward Riku, Mickey, Hook, and the two pirates in their group, Billy Jukes and Black Murphy. The boatswain lashed his cat-o-nine-tails at Hook, but Riku called up a Dark Shield to block the whip ends that would have cut to the bone had they connected. When the lashes fell limp and Riku let the barrier fade, Hook reached into his pocket—magically expanded, the one benefit provided by Maleficent which he chose to keep—and pulled out a gift-wrapped box that had a dynamite wick and a stick of flint sticking out of the bow. He struck his hook against the flint to ignite the wick and threw the box at Jimmy Legs, then leapt to the side as the bomb it contained exploded.

Morey leaned over and tried to chomp on Mickey, but the mouse rolled away from his massive jaws and slashed at his legs, then swung up at his stomach as he toppled over, launching him up and sending him tumbling through the air. After landing, the eel-headed crewman rolled onto his stomach and started to push himself up, roaring in anger. Mickey cast Fira into his mouth, causing him to gag and flop over.

Palifico engaged with Billy Jukes and Black Murphy, parrying and countering most of their attacks with his sword arms, although he had difficulty in defending himself when Billy Jukes pushed at him from the front and Black Murphy took the opportunity to duck behind him and attack from the rear.

Riku matched Angler blow-for-blow, warping around and casting spells to get the edge against his opponent. After several hits, Angler figured out his pattern and dodged his first attacks after his next warp, then overpowered him and sent him sprawling. Growling, he turned his back on Riku and attacked Hook. Hook desperately parried his new opponent's swings, then, seeing Jimmy Legs prepare a strike, pushed Angler off balance, then jabbed his hook into the crewman's chest and threw him between himself and Jimmy Legs just as the boatswain swung his cat-o-nine-tails. Angler screamed in agony as the lashes cut through his back. Jimmy Legs stared in surprise, but chuckled at the cries, not caring much that he had elicited pain from the wrong target. Furious, Angler attacked Hook, forcing him back and causing him to trip and fall down. Before he could deliver the finishing blow, however, he was hit with a Dark Fire spell to his side. Riku grabbed Angler by the arm, opened a Corridor of Darkness, and threw him into the shadowy portal before closing it. He helped Hook to his feet and recovered his rapier, then warped in front of Jimmy Legs and slashed him across the chest.

Mickey leapt up to dodge Morey's sword and struck the crewman in the chin, then cast Firaga at his chest to knock him back and propel himself in the opposite direction, throwing himself at Palifico. Billy Jukes and Black Murphy saw him and pushed their swords up against Palifico's to hold his arms open and prevent him from acting as Mickey flew in and dealt a powerful slash at the coral man.

"Riku!" Mickey called. The teen turned to see Mickey cast Aguara and send a jet of water into Morey's gaping mouth. Understanding what he was setting up, Riku cast Dark Blizzaga, freezing the water in the crewman's mouth all the way down to his stomach. The purple ice was too thick for Morey to break, and the weight of the mass sticking out of his mouth caused him to fall forward, leaving him immobilized.

"Drop your swords!" Mickey ordered the pirates. While they were confused, they did as he said. The mouse conjured two balls of electricity, which shot bolts of lightning straight at Palifico. The lightning struck his swords, which he was unable to let go of due to being a part of him, and coursed through his body. The spell fried him for several seconds before it finally faded, at which point Palifico collapsed in a smoking heap. "Stick him to the eel," Mickey then instructed. The pirates grabbed the crewman by the arms and dragged him over to Morey, where they then impaled his sword-arms into Morey's back. Mickey leapt over them and cast Blizzaga to freeze Palifico's wrists to Morey's back.

After defeating Morey, Riku turned to see Jimmy Legs about to try to whip Hook again. Just as the boatswain flicked the lash, Riku cast Aerora, causing the nine tails to wrap around him, digging into his flesh. Jimmy Legs let out a blood-curdling scream and fell flat on his face. Riku and Hook picked the boatswain up by the head and feet and threw him on top of Morey and Palifico, then Hook stabbed Morey's sword through Jimmy and Morey's backs before Mickey froze the crewmen together.

Captain Hook and his pirates laughed as they saw that their enemies were unable to free themselves no matter how much they struggled. "Now, let's show that bilge rat that he made a mistake in messing with us!" Hook declared.

"Hold your horses there, Captain," Mickey advised. "We should wait until everyone else is done and we're all back together. We don't want to jump into a fight with Davy Jones without a plan."

Aqua, Donald, Goofy, Smee, and the other two pirates, Mullins and Turk, stood at the ready as Clanker, Crash, Old Haddy, and Two Head charged toward them. Clanker swung one of the chain-shots at Aqua, who blocked the iron ball with a Barrier and then caused the barrier to burst, sending the ball into the crewman's chest. Smee and Crash locked swords, but Crash caught Smee's blade in the teeth of his sawfish snout and easily disarmed him. He prepared to cut the now-defenseless pirate open, but Donald cast Agua at his tentacle foot, causing him to lose his footing, and then sent him sprawling with Firaga. Old Haddy punched at Goofy, but the knight blocked each shark tooth-tipped blow with his shield. While, for the most part, the mussel-covered crewman kept a constant barrage that would have prevented Goofy from moving, Goofy did find a split-second to deflect a punch to the side with a jab to the wrist with the edge of his shield, giving him an opening to shield bash his opponent several times in the face. Mullins and Turk fought Two Head from either side. The fused twins were able to focus on each foe and parry their attacks with a sword in both hands.

Each time she stunned Clanker with a Barrier deflecting his chain-shot back at him, Aqua followed up with a combo of strikes, flew around to deliver a few spells from all sides, and closed in for a Burst finisher. A few times, he was able to retaliate and swing one chain-shot at her gut, knocking the wind out of her. Fortunately, she was able to recover and dodge his follow-up that he would have brought down on her skull. She retaliated against these attacks with a Thunder Surge.

Donald blasted Crash with a string of spells, allowing Smee to retrieve his sword and run around to attack Crash from behind. Crash charged at Donald and cut his arm, then turned around to try to disarm Smee again. However, Smee caught on and twisted his sword to prevent it from flying out of his hand when Crash twisted his blade. The crewman gave up after a few tries and changed tactics to simply attacking Smee directly. Smee blocked his first strike by connecting the flat of his cutlass with the side of his enemy's blade. Before Crash could try for another strike, Donald blasted him from behind with Blizzaga, covering him in ice that made it difficult to move. With a chuckle, Smee took the opportunity to slice his blade along the side of Crash's neck.

Old Haddy punched at Goofy several times, but the knight blocked each blow with his shield. Goofy managed to deflect a punch and shield bashed him in the chest, then flew into the air and threw his shield several times from all directions, hitting the crewman in the chest, back, arms, and head. While Haddy was stunned, he flew straight down at him, ramrod-straight like a rocket, with his shield held up before his head, and slammed into the crewman's face, knocking him down.

Mullins and Turk had the idea to taunt Two Head. Each twin spat insults back at their foes. Seeing that they had both aspects of their adversary provoked, they took a step back. Two Head tried to move toward them, but each head wanted to go after a different pirate, and so they fought each other for control over their body. With Two Head distracted and off balance, the pirates dropped down and slashed at their ankles, then stood back up to slash their chest and back, causing them to fall down.

Aqua goaded Clanker into attacking and flew above his head. The crewman threw his chain-shots at her one after the other. She raised a barrier and let the iron balls hit the bottom of the sphere, then made it explode, shooting the balls straight down at Clanker's head. With two nasty crunches as the chain-shots collided and then dropped to the grass, Clanker swayed about before falling on his face, unconscious.

With all of the crewmen momentarily disabled, Aqua cast Blizzaga to immobilize them. "Bring them all together!" she called out. Goofy and the pirates dragged Crash, Old Haddy, and Two Head and threw them on top of Clanker. Aqua cast Blizzaga until she felt the Diamond Dust Power Style course through her. Her next strikes with her Keyblade cut into the crewmen's clothes and skin and froze everything the blade touched. At the same time, Donald cast Blizzaga furiously. The power of Diamond Dust peaked in Aqua, and she dropped down to strike next to the crewmen, creating a glacier that spiked out in six directions, launching them into the air. At the same time, Donald cast Blizzaza, compounding the Diamond Dust glacier and freezing the crewmen in larger glacier spikes in midair.

"A-hyuck! That sure stopped them cold," Goofy said. Smee was the only one who laughed. Donald glared, unamused.

"They won't be going anywhere for a while," Aqua said. "Let's meet back up with the others."

The three groups met in the middle, where Sora and Aqua's groups saw the defeated state of Jimmy Legs' group and described the way they had defeated their foes.

"Alright. They're all down for the count," Riku said. "But Davy Jones is still out there. And I don't think that was his entire crew that we fought."

"He probably won't give up until he finishes his job," Donald added.

"Do you think we could hit them hard enough that we force them to retreat?" Sora suggested.

"What do you have in mind?" Mickey asked.

Sora crossed his arms as he thought up possibilities. While this discussion took place, Hook, not noticed by anyone, grabbed Tinker Bell out of the air and shook her over his head, causing her to drop pixie dust all over him. He then did the same with the rest of his crew. Tinker Bell jingled and gesticulated at him angrily. Hook shushed her, then pulled an empty lantern out of his pocket and shoved her into it, the same way he had done so on a few previous occasions, then closed and latched it. He put the lantern down and crept off with his crew. When they were out of sight, they broke into a run. When they reached the cliff, they imagined sailing on the Jolly Roger and holding up Davy Jones' severed head, and they lifted off of the ground and flew out over the water.

"We can't kill Jones," Riku reminded everyone, unaware that the pirates had snuck away. "We probably won't be able to physically incapacitate him. And if he can teleport like that, we might not even be able to trap him."

Peter chuckled. "We can wreck his ship! Cause enough damage that he'll have no choice but to flee. And he won't be able to shoot down the Jolly Roger."

"Great idea, Peter!" Sora commended. He looked around, an idea forming in his mind. "And I think I know how we're going to do it."

As he told everyone the plan, Kairi heard shouts. She turned around and saw the lantern with Tinker Bell trapped inside, pounding her fists on the glass. She gasped. "Tink!" She ran over to the lantern, picked it up, and opened it. The fairy flew up and explained what happened. "What?!" Kairi turned around to face her friends, who had all turned their attention to her and Tinker Bell. "The pirates took some pixie dust and went to the cliff?"

"Why would they do that?" Goofy asked.

"They're going back to the Jolly Roger to fight Jones," Riku realized.

"They're going to get themselves killed!" Mickey gasped.

"Well, then we'd better hurry," Sora said.

Captain Hook and his pirate crew hovered above the Jolly Roger's deck, glaring at Davy Jones and the remainder of his crew. "Davy Jones, you lily-livered picaroon! Come fight me like a true pirate!" Hook challenged, shouting so that the Dutchman's captain could hear.

"What should we do, captain?" Maccus asked Jones.

Davy Jones sneered. "Hold off. If James Hook wishes to face the devil, I shan't deny him." He promptly teleported over to the Jolly Roger. He waited for Hook to descend and land on the deck in front of him. The rest of the crew remained in the air, in case Jones tried to play any tricks. "I see that my men were unable to slay you."

"You won't have Captain Hook in the grave so easily," Hook boasted. "But I intend to see you there."

Jones scoffed. "You know that I cannot be killed."

"But I can cleave you limb from limb! And I wonder, if you cannot set foot on land, what would happen if I threw your head onto soil."

"You seek to strike me down?"

"Aye."

"Very well, then." Jones drew his sword and spread his arms, inviting Hook to attack. "Have at it."

Letting out a ferocious roar, Hook struck, but Jones blocked the slash. They fought all over the deck, their blades clashing and cutting at each other. Jones was stronger and came close to overpowering Hook at a few points, but Hook was nimble and able to duck to the side and come up to strike his foe in the side. When Jones retaliated by swinging his crab claw arm, Hook backed away and threw a present bomb, blasting Jones back several feet.

The fight continued, with the pirates watching eagerly, until Hook forced Jones to stumble back into the railing. Jones grabbed the railing with his crab claw to keep himself from falling over. Grinning, Hook slapped Jones' blade out of his hand and pointed his sword at his tentacled chin.

Just then, Jones bent his waist backward, and he melted through the railing until he was entirely on the opposite side, his foot and peg leg set between the balusters. He then pushed himself up with his claw and swung his legs over the railing, kicking Hook with his peg leg and sending him stumbling back before falling onto his rear. The pirates gasped as they saw their captain face defeat, and they fell out of the air and landed on the deck, the positive thoughts no longer there to support their flight.

Jones picked his sword up and held it to Hook's chin. "You've done well, but you can't escape your fate," he said. "But I can offer an alternative." Hook gulped as he realized what Jones was suggesting. "So, tell me. Do you fear death?"

Hook stared into Davy Jones' eyes and did his best to keep his expression and his voice even. "I lived in fear of the crocodile for a long time. But I'd rather face him than sail with you."

"Hmph. Suit yourself." Jones drew his arm back to strike Hook dead, amid the pirates' cries of horror.

Flying out of the jungle, Sora saw Jones prepare to kill Hook. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw his Keyblade with all of his might, letting it spin through the air with incredible speed. It struck Jones when he had pulled his arm all the way back, cutting through his arm below the shoulder. Jones gasped in pain and shock as he looked back and saw his sword arm bounce off of the railing and fall into the water below. He covered the bleeding stump and turned back in time to see Hook stand up and swing his sword at his neck. Jones sank into a pool of sludge and teleported to the Flying Dutchman just in time to avoid losing his head.

"He's on the Dutchman! Now!" Sora shouted. Mickey, Aqua and Donald, who were holding the ice blocks trapping the Dutchman's crew aloft with a mix of Zero Gravity spells and telekinetic light tethers, flew ahead of the group. When they were a few hundred feet away from the Flying Dutchman, they swung their Keyblades and staff forward and released the tethers, sending the glaciers sailing toward the cursed ship. The glaciers crashed into the ship, smashing large craters into the hull and causing one of the masts to topple over.

Maccus pushed the pile that Riku and Mickey had frozen together off of his legs and stood up to face Davy Jones. "What are your orders, captain?" he asked, seeing that the active crewmen were running around in a panic.

Jones scowled in the direction of the party. "We must retreat," he answered, growling in rage.

Sora, Mickey, Aqua, Donald, Peter, Riku, Kairi, and Goofy dropped down and set foot on the Jolly Roger as they watched the Flying Dutchman suddenly disappear into the water. Everyone on board the pirate ship cheered at the victory.

Peter turned to face Hook. "Good form, Captain," he said.

Captain Hook smiled with pride and gratitude.