Sora, Ruby, and their friends had departed Agrabah, with a final gift from Aladdin and Genie. A little gem similar to the summon gem that Sora received from the Fairy Godmother. A way to summon Genie for aid whenever he needed. And not out of some master/servant obligation. But as Genie's way of returning that favor to Aladdin and all of his new friends for freeing him. And with that final gift, the group of eleven friends departed with a final promise to Aladdin that they would find Jasmine.

As they flew along the depths of space, with a great bout of silly awe and admiration from Nora at the vast void of stars and distant worlds, the group took that opportunity to explain everything they knew so far. Particularly about the illusive Ansem. "Hmmm. Soooo, this Ansem guy was studying those Heartless things, which were responsible for the destruction of Remnant and Sora's world along with others. Am I getting this right so far?" Nora asked, scratching her head. "Pretty much...though I gotta say, I'm having a bit of trouble following some things too." Sora said, earning a sigh from Donald and Weiss. "Well if he's the one responsible, we just gotta find him and smash his face in for destroying our homes!" Nora said, hopping up and pounding a fist against an open palm. Her typical, inelegant method of solving problems drew a sigh from everyone else, except for Yang who mirrored the gesture with an enthusiastic, "Yeah!"

"I don't think violence is going to solve this issue so easily." Ren interjected, causing both girls to practically deflate. "Personally, I think we'd benefit more by learning what he discovered." Pyrrha suggested. "And whether it was even worth it, given what's happened." Blake interjected grimly. "I think before doing any of this, we should be looking at that report that Jafar dropped." Weiss's suggestion made everyone perk up, suddenly remembering Jafar had a piece of Ansem's report. "Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that!" Ruby exclaimed.

Taking out the paper from his pocket, Jaune said, "I still have it here. Let me see..." then read it out loud with everyone gathering around to listen.

Much of my life has been dedicated to pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times.

"Huh...This Ansem guy doesn't sound very evil." Nora said, confused. "So he's a scholar of some kind?" Ren inquired as he looked over Nora's shoulder at his team leader reading the report.

"Sort of. Leon told us that in their world, they were lead by a man named Ansem who was a sage that helped them all prosper." Ruby explained.

"He also said he perished with the world, too." Donald interjected with a contemplative hum.

"Guys, there's more," Jaune said, drawing everybody's attention as he continued speaking.

Darkness… Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so? As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness.

"What else does it say?" Sora asked, leaning in over Jaune's shoulder.

"That's it," Jaune said with a sigh. "That's all there is. Not a whole lot to go on." Everyone else seemed disappointed as the shifted away.

"It says 'One' at the top. So this must be the first ." Pyrrha said with a shrug.

Nora groaned, almost reeling herself back where she stood. "So if this Ansem guy was so nice he wanted to keep people safe, I can't hurt him."

"You wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway, considering he's gone like we already said," Weiss said with a shake of her head.

"Well anyway, there's more of these out there somewhere. Leon told us they could possibly come up with a way to beat the Heartless, for good. Let's see if we can collect more of them." Donald said as he turned back to steering the ship. Something in the distance made him narrow his eyes." What is that?"

Everyone stood up and ran toward the part of the cockpit window Donald as pointing toward. What they saw was hard to describe. "Wow, it's huge!" Sora exclaimed. "But...what is it?" Ruby asked, still not able to make out what it was. It looked oddly roundish from where they were looking at it, and...there were two strange...things on its sides? She couldn't quite tell. In fact, NOBODY could tell what they were dealing with. "It doesn't look like a Grimm. Is it a Heartless?" Yang wondered as it just seemed to drift about.

They all soon realized what it was when the creature suddenly lout of a noise that resonated like a low pitched whale song. The strange creature suddenly seemed to swim through the void of space toward them. "Whoa!" everyone exclaimed, sharply stepping away from the cockpit window as the creature suddenly hovered over them. "It's a giant whale!" Goofy exclaimed. "What?! How can a whale be swimming in space?! This doesn't make any sense!" Wess exclaimed. "Space Whaaaale!" Nora joked, trying to alleviate the tension she felt at the massive creature that was now swimming around them. It didn't do much, of course. Jiminy however recognized this particular whale. "It's Monstro!" Pyrrha looked toward the cricket and back at the whale in question. "You know this thing, Jiminy?" she asked the shocked cricket. "More than I'd like to. He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!" Jiminy exclaimed. "Um, maybe we should focus more on getting away from the giant vicious whale then!?" Jaune suggested. "For once, something Jaune and I agree on! Do something!" Weiss urged, just in time for Monstro to come back around, flying over the Gummi ship and back in front of them. "Whoa! Sora, get us out of here!" Donald yelled as the whale started coming at them full speed, opening his mouth! "Too late! He's gonna swallow us!" Sora yelled, followed by a shared scream from everybody as the entire Gummi ship and everyone in it was swallowed up by the titanic aquatic mammal.

"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes!"

That voice...Sora recognized that voice...It was...his, when he was a child. As he opened his eyes, he found himself...walking alongside...a younger Riku across one of the higher bridges at one end of the island they'd always play on.

"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?"

The skeptical tone of his friend was just as youthful as his own. Something about this exchange was so...familiar.

"What difference does it make? There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!"

Sora had no idea why he was hearing this...even seeing this. In fact as he thought about it, Sora felt more and more like knew what was going to happen next.

"Alright, suppose there really is a monster..." Riku said as they made it to the main level of the island and headed to the secret spot. "Think we can take it by ourselves, Sora?"

That's when he realized it: Sora was remembering something from his past. This was one of the events of him and Riku playing together. When he was a kid, Sora recalled hearing some sort of noise that sounded like a huge monster coming from within what would become the secret spot. And if he recalled correctly, Sora was going to respond with a confident tone and say...

"No problem. Let's do it!"

Which made Riku look back at him and smile in amusement at how confident his friend was.

"Listen! There! Can you hear it growling?" Sora whispered as the noise he heard from before went off again.

Right away Riku spoke after him in a hushed voice and tried listening in. "Shh. Quiet. We gotta be careful."

As they entered the secret spot, the first thing they discovered...was the actual source of the noise. "See that? It was just the wind making that noise." Riku said, looking up at the opening where the wind was billowing from. Sora let out a disappointed complaint of, "Aw, man. I wish it was a monster." Not exactly something that one would expect a kid to say, but then again both boys had always been adventurous, even at this age.

However, while there was no monster, something did catch their attention. "Hold on! What's that over there?" Sora asked, looking toward the thing in question. It was that big wooden door. The one that puzzled him and his friends ever since they found it. Only to finally open when the Islands were consumed by the Heartless. "A window, or maybe a door? It won't open." Riku said, as he walked over it and tried to budge it, only for nothing to happen. Sora let out another disappointed groan. "Geez, is that really all that's in here?" he asked. "What do you expect in a boring place like this?" Riku commented with a faint edge of bitterness.

In the next moment, Riku's face and tone lit up with eagerness. "Hey, Sora. When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!" This was where it seemed to truly begin. Sora and Riku's desire to leave Destiny Islands and see other worlds. An hopeful, innocent, childish fantasy. If only it could have remained so innocent. For while Riku was determined, Sora was of course laid back and content. "Sure, but isn't there anything fun to do now?" Sora asked as they turned to walk back outside. It was then that Sora remembered that there was indeed something interesting going on back on the mainland. "Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house? Did you hear?"

Before he could think of what his answer to Rikus question was...Sora's focus suddenly started to fade along with his consciousness. The world around him, the memory of that simpler time growing dark. And then...nothingness.

"-ra?...ora?...ou..ear me?! Sora, can you hear me!?"

The next thing Sora knew, he was gasping awake atop...something slimy. His bright blue eyes opened to meet a worried familiar pair of silver eyes staring right into his. "Ruby?" he groaned out as he realized who was above him. It was Ruby. And...as he looked up at her, he couldn't help staring into her silver eyes. He...didn't know why, but there was something about them that was... "Sora, you're okay!" Before he knew it, Sora let out a gasp as he was suddenly hugged tightly by Ruby. His cheeks turned a smidge pink from the unexpected gesture.

"KNOCK IT OFF!"

The angry shout of Donald drew the two teenager's attention as Ruby stood up. "Look everyone! Sora's awake!" Pyrrha called out when she looked behind herself. Everyone's attention was immediately focused on Sora as Ruby reached down to help him stand. "Hey, Sora. Are you okay?" Goofy asked, his shield raised above his head. Sora nodded before he asked, "What are you guys doing?" before taking the moment to look at their surroundings. "Where are we, anyway?" It was an oddly soft looking terrain bearing somewhat of a bodily odor like bad breath in the air. The rest of their friends were a few feet away in front of what looked like rows of spiky triangular rocks lining together perfectly. Sora soon realized however that those weren't rocks, but teeth.

"Uh, ya know, I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us." Goofy answered as he gestured with his free hand at their environment. With a very grossed out Nora being helped around what could only be the whale's tongue by Ren.

"I remember that. It was... pretty scary." Jaune said, looking at his feet and shaking a little. Pyrrha smiling to him when she held his shoulder and brought him a little comfort, though it did little to change the fact that they were inside the massive beast.

Blake sighed, looking to the floors and walls of flesh that were the inner parts of Monstro's jaw. "I never thought I'd get eaten by a fish. It's like some form of cruel irony." she bemoaned, seemingly ready to curl into the fetal position out of sheer shame before Yang pat the poor faunus on the back.

"Technically," Weiss said with an astute tone, "A whale is a sea mammal. They don't have gills." The Schnee heiress's know-it-all level response left Blake glaring at her in a deadpan way.

"Well, for today's weather, expect showers." Goofy said...perfectly timed for a box to fall upon his shield as he was protecting his head. "Heavy showers." It was hard to tell if Goofy was being serious or if he was joking. But all the same, his words did draw a small chuckle from Yang. "Donald's been yelling at whoever's been throwing those things for the past five minutes." Pyrrha explained to the confused Sora. "I may have also hit him with one of them when I tried to hit it like a ball with my hammer." Nora explained, showing that she indeed had her hammer brandished. And her reminder made Donald look at her with a very displeased frown before turning back to the chest rummaging perpetrator. "Hey! Who's there!?" he called up.

The figure was...not who they expected it to be. "It's me!" answered the childish voice of a certain wooden boy puppet, grinning down at the group cheerfully. "Oh, it's just Pinocchio." Donald said, only to do a double take realizing that it was indeed the puppet boy they saw in Traverse Town last time they were there. "Pinocchio!?" Donald and Ruby both said at once. Ren and Nora, understandably confused, looked to the equally shocked and surprised Jaune and Pyrrha. "You know him?" Ren asked. "Uhhh, kinda? We only ever saw him one time." Jaune answered uncertainly. "Jiminy knows him better than any of us." Pyrrha explained.

As if on cue, the conscience in question hopped out of Sora's hood, eyes wide with surprise to see his charge was indeed here. "Pinocchio?!" he called out, only to see the puppet walking away with a big, green, bizarre yet faintly recognizable block. "Pinnoch, where are you going!? Pinnoch!?" The boy wasn't stopping however, and just kept walking. "Come on, everybody! After him!" Jiminy urged. Whatever Pinocchio was doing, it was either incredibly important, or he was letting his mind wander. Either way, everyone nodded to action and dashed after the puppet.

They had no idea what they were going to find within the belly of Monstro the Whale.