Chapter 8

The Ship That Runs on Smiles

A row of ships constructed out of red, yellow and orange blocks flew through the sea between worlds, dodging asteroids and the occasional giant orange ring that got in their way while remaining in formation. Whatever it was that piloted the ships could not understand why there were giant rings, nor could it make sense of why they were arranged in such a fashion. But it did not care. The layout of the Lanes Between had no bearing on it. The only thing that concerned it was its job, which was to make sure that no unwelcome travelers sailed the star systems. It scanned everything in its path, checking for any unsavory formations. Once, the ships passed two other ships that vaguely resembled bees, but they were not the enemies; rather, they were allied ships, similarly tasked with dominating the routes. At a distance, the front ship noticed a construct that appeared to be made of similarly-colored blocks to itself; it even possessed a similarly-shaped cockpit. However, there were some key differences: there was a pyramid-like point on the front, a gun-like part was attached to the bottom; there were some white fin-like wings on the sides, and there were two smaller ships floating on either side of the construct. The front ship scanned the construct, comparing its shape and structure to the range of ships it was directed to watch out for, and it found a match. The enemy ship was listed as "KINGDOM".

Within the Kingdom Gummi Ship, the anthropomorphic dog pressed the button on the gunner console, and a photon blast was shot from the Fire-G gun, blasting the front ship to pieces. A few more shots and the ships behind it were obliterated.

Jiminy Cricket looked out of the cockpit from his position on top of Mickey's head. "Gosh. It's a wonder that there are still so many Heartless- and Nobody-controlled Gummi Ships flying around after both factions were defeated," he commented.

"I never understood how the Heartless could fly space ships," Donald wondered aloud. "Nobodies, maybe, since they had some intelligence, but not the instinct-driven predatory Heartless."

Mickey shrugged. "I never really thought about them. And we never really got to stop and take a look at them." He swerved the steering console to maneuver the ship through and around a series of rings, and Donald pulled the Teeny Ships in closer and pushed them farther away to avoid any collisions.

Mickey sighed with satisfaction. "It's been a while since I've flown this thing," he said. "Had to have been a few years before the roads and worlds got too dangerous to make regular trips. I'm glad to see Chip and Dale put in the extra passenger seats and cup holders."

As Mickey said that, Goofy realized something. "So, uh, your Majesty," he said, turning around to face Mickey while keeping a peripheral on the way ahead, "how exactly did you get out of the castle and into the other worlds if you left the ship for us in the garage?"

"And I'm pretty sure Master Yen Sid wouldn't let you use the Star Shard again, even if you had gone out to borrow it," Donald added.

Mickey looked sheepish, realizing that he never really gave Donald or Goofy any of the details of his time away when everyone was fighting the Heartless. Even in his letter, he never gave them a hint of what he was planning to do, and he felt guilty for making them worry so much.

"Well, you know how Keyblade wielders can transform their weapons into different things, such as a glider?" Mickey asked to refresh his friends. Donald and Goofy nodded, though Jiminy was perplexed, as he was not aware of that detail. "Well, I still had my own Keyblade with me, and I fished out that piece of armor like the ones used to protect them from the darkness in the Lanes Between. I activated my armor and jumped on my Keyblade Glider, and flew out into the sea between worlds."

"The armor piece… That black vest thing with the gold buttons?" Goofy asked to clarify. Mickey nodded. "Then why didn't you have the armor after we woke up, and you had to put on the Organization XIII coat?"

"It got smashed pretty hard while I was in the Realm of Darkness, and I had to leave it behind when I went to help you guys close the Door to Darkness. Afterwards, I tried fixing it, but it wouldn't reactivate. Besides, since I had the Key from the Realm of Darkness, I didn't really need the armor to protect myself. And the black coat was to keep the members of Organization XIII from picking up my scent."

Donald, Goofy and Jiminy accepted that answer, but several seconds later they did a double take. "Scent?" they asked, giving Mickey confused looks. Goofy clicked the gunner button and held it down, firing lasers blasts at a continuous rate until a large asteroid in front of the ship was blown to pieces.

Mickey shrugged. "I don't quite understand it myself. Riku said something about being able to 'smell darkness', but I never understood what he was talking about."

They sat quietly for a while, focusing on the path ahead. Mickey steered and navigated, Donald kept an eye on the radars to detect any obstacles and guided the Teeny Ships (somehow having convinced Chip and Dale to let him operate with them before departure), and Goofy manned the guns to shoot down enemy ships and asteroids.

After a few hours, Mickey parked the ship on the side of a massive asteroid, and the four of them took the elevator down to the galley to prepare dinner. After the meal, they resumed their positions and continued their journey.

After a while, a massive object gradually came into view. It had an ovoid shape, and appeared to be mostly water, save for a few spots of land, the largest of which was covered in islands and had a tall, apparently volcanic mountain in the middle. Another spot resembled a very familiar island that the three of them had most certainly been to before.

"Land ho!" Donald exclaimed, shaking his hands together from side to side.

"Hey, we made it!" Goofy agreed, pointing excitedly out into the distance.

"And right when we planned to be here," Jiminy noted, eyeing the clock on the ship's display which indicated the measured time for the islands.

"All right, men," Mickey announced. "Are we ready to see Sora and Riku again? Oh, Kairi too," he corrected himself, remembering that, despite the short time they spent together, Kairi was a friend as well.

"You betcha!" everyone answered enthusiastically.

"Well then, let's find a place to touch down."

I know that this one's rather short, and some of you were probably hoping for some camaraderie between Mickey, Donald and Goofy. But frankly, I could not think of much to fill in the time during this chapter. But I'll be sure to have the Mickey Mouse Club trade jokes and stories later down the line.