Chapter 10
Blast Away!
Riku and Kairi gazed in wonder as they explored the interior of the Gummi Ship. Kairi had been in the ship once, after she, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had escaped from Hollow Bastion more than a year ago. However, she was only on board for less than a day, due to Donald sending the ship through warp to make it back to Traverse Town, and her memory of the time was still somewhat fuzzy due to her memories of Sora and everything relating to her experience with him being tampered with. Regardless, she was still amazed by the sights. Riku, conversely, had never been in the ship at all, and although he was familiar with computerized technology, the sleek design and advanced electronic interface of the space ship left him breathless.
Sora was quick to notice the upgrades made since he was last aboard. Chip and Dale had accounted for the possibility of extra passengers and installed not only extra seats in the cockpit but also built in more bedrooms and added bunk beds. The galley was updated as well, with better storage cabinets and a larger refrigerator as well as a wider range of cutlery and cooking implements. The laundry room was in top working condition, and there were actually enough bathrooms for multiple passengers.
"Wow. Chip and Dale really put a lot of work into this!" Sora said as Donald led him, Riku and Kairi back to the cockpit.
Donald nodded. "They said that they were working on these updates during the last two years, and just got the chance to put everything in when we got back," he explained.
"Well, I'd say they did a good job," Kairi commended as she looked around the cockpit.
"If DiZ, ahem, Ansem could get a look at this," Riku mused, slurping from a juice box.
Sora turned to address his animal friends. "So, how have you guys been?" he asked earnestly.
"Enjoying the peace and quiet," Donald answered.
"I got to watch the new class of cadets graduate from training," Goofy said, a tear sprouting from his eye. "My son Max is a Royal Knight."
Everyone's attention was briefly diverted when Riku snorted some juice out of his nose.
"It's been nice to be home," Mickey told them. "What about you?"
"Glad to be back together," Kairi answered. Sora and Riku nodded in agreement.
"Great to be home," Sora concurred with Mickey. "Though, I really did miss this." After a moment's pause, Sora ran past everyone and jumped into the pilot's seat.
"Hey!" Donald protested. "Get out of there! You're not flying this thing!" Riku, Kairi and Goofy laughed as Sora and Donald fought over the controls.
"You let me fly all the way through the last journey!" Sora reminded him. "Besides, I just got my driver's license!"
Jiminy jumped onto the control panel. "Now you two behave, or we'll have another crash landing just like with Deep Jungle," he warned them.
"Say, how about we give Riku and Kairi a rundown on flying this?" Mickey suggested. Sora and Donald stopped squabbling and considered the idea.
"Okay. That sounds like a good idea," Sora said, throwing Donald off of him and hopping out of the chair.
"All right. Now, let's have one of you in the pilot's chair and the other one in the gunner's seat."
Riku and Kairi briefly deliberated between themselves before coming to a decision. Riku sat in the pilot's chair while Kairi took the gunner's seat. Mickey gave Riku instructions on how to fly the Gummi Ship, teaching him how to hit the thrusters, steer the ship and perform an aileron roll. He then taught Kairi to aim the Fire-G cannons and send commands to the Teeny Ships to direct their laser guns, to lock onto targets, and to fire intermittent or constant photon blasts or homing laser shotlocks from both the main ship and the Teenies' guns. He had them try it out in an asteroid cluster, where Riku deftly maneuvered around the larger rocks and Kairi destroyed the smaller rocks. He then had them switch places and showed them the controls. Kairi checked the radar and saw a number of Heartless ships a short distance away, and asked permission to fly into the area so she can practice piloting and Riku can practice shooting.
The crew saw a wide range of Heartless ships. Some were red and orange and resembled fireballs; some were brown, red and yellow-green and resembled turtles; and some resembled purple towers. Kairi maneuvered around the ships and Riku shot them down. Along the way, they saw a large green ship that looked and moved like a quadrupedal animal, even having a "head" at the front, crawling across an asteroid. Kairi hovered over it while Riku shot at it continuously. It took a lot of firepower but the Crawler eventually collapsed and exploded.
"You're doing great!" Sora congratulated. Donald couldn't help but agree. However, their cheers were interrupted when a warning siren blared. Checking the radar, Kairi was shocked to see a massive Heartless ship approach.
The enemy ship had a blue and purple color scheme. It was made up of four long, rigid "arms", which were joined at and folded around a smaller, conical gray body that appeared to have a face.
Sora, Donald and Goofy recognized this creature. "Be careful with that thing," Sora warned them. "It will shoot a lot of lasers from all of its arms continuously, and sometimes shoot ring-shaped blasts. Just keep the main guns trained on the head and let the Teeny Ships hit the arms and you'll be fine."
Kairi and Riku let him know that they understood. It took a short while for Kairi to figure out how to work around its barrage of attacks, resulting in the Gummi Ship taking a few hits, but pretty soon the enemy ship had taken enough damage and started to combust. Kairi flew the craft away from it while Riku sent one last shot right at the center of the face, causing the whole thing to explode.
Kairi cheered excitably and Riku laughed triumphantly, with everyone else commending them on their good teamwork.
"Would you two like to keep it up the rest of the way?" Mickey offered.
Riku and Kairi shook their heads no. "No, thank you, your Majesty," Kairi declined politely. "Besides, we would like to take in the sights on the way to Hollow Bastion."
Mickey looked at her with a confused expression. Wondering if it was something she said, she looked around at the others, but they all sported similar expressions, except for Riku, who was perplexed for the same reason as Kairi.
Sora came to a realization. "Oh! I guess I forgot to tell you. Leon and the others remembered the world's true name, so now they're calling it 'Radiant Garden'."
"Oh!" Kairi gasped as a memory struck her. "Now I remember. My memory is still kind of fuzzy since I was sent away. I've been getting some of my childhood memories back since I was there with you. I can't believe I didn't remember the name!"
"Nobody remembered until Tron dug it up in Ansem's computer," Goofy explained.
"Tron was the program from the world within the computer system, right?" Riku asked for clarification. Sora, Donald and Goofy nodded in confirmation. "And he has access to all the data on the computer?" He paused, thinking. "If that's the case, then he could help us find any information on what Maleficent and Pete are after. If there's a specific object on different worlds, there might be one in Radiant Garden."
"You're right," Sora said. "Even if there isn't anything that tells us about their objective, we might be able to find a clue to point us in the right direction, and maybe we'll be able to stop Maleficent from getting those things."
"It's worth a shot," Mickey conceded. "We're going to need all the clues we can find."
"Then we should get going." Sora ran toward the pilot's chair. Donald tried to get to it before him but Sora waved his hand horizontally, and a sheet of ice formed on the floor in front of Donald. As soon as the duck stepped on it, he slipped and slid across the cockpit, past the chair and into a passenger seat. Sora confidently hopped over the ice trail and sat in the pilot's chair.
"You learned some new tricks, huh, Sora?" Donald commented, disoriented.
Sora grinned and snapped his fingers, creating a flame sprouting from his thumb. "I sometimes found myself playing around with my magic spells. I didn't want to go forgetting them again."
Goofy sat in the gunner's seat, and Mickey sat in the Teeny Ship guidance seat. Riku and Kairi sat in some passenger seats and strapped themselves in, while Donald resignedly buckled his seat belt. "Ready when you are, Sora!" Goofy called out.
"All right, then," Sora said, checking the map of the worlds to plot a course. "Blast away, Gummi Ship!" he shouted, gunning the ignition and sending the ship through the sea between worlds.