As their vision was cleared of blinding white light, Ruby and Sora found themselves back in Merlin's home. The first thing they were greeted with, apart from the jovial greetings from their friends, was the sight of Pooh's book...now with a brand new design on the cover. It was an adorable drawing of Sora and Ruby holding Pooh's hands as they walked down a dirt path together with Piglet by their side. The sight made both of them smile and lay their hands on the book. Their moment of peace in the Hundred Acre Wood would be something they cherished for the rest of their adventures together, and maybe even beyond.
"So how'd it go?" Goofy asked curiously, peering at the book alongside Donald.
"Wonderfully. Pooh's world is safe now," Ruby said, her voice soft yet filled with just as much joy as Sora had come to expect from her. As they removed their hands from the book, both teenagers turned to face their comrades and teammates, all of which couldn't help smiling along with them, even if they didn't fully understand why.
Regardless, they still had things to do before they continued in Sora's search for his friends. The first order of business was getting the Fairy Godmother to aid them with the new summon gems they had acquired. Afterwards, the group went to restock their supply of potions, ethers, ammunition, and dust.
As they finished stocking up on those supplies, the group met in the center of the 1st district. Jaune couldn't help inquiring, "Soooo what exactly happened in there? I mean, I can tell Merlin definitely wasn't bluffing about you guys being safe in there, but I couldn't help noticing you both seem...a bit different." A question that was on everyone's lips after Sora and Ruby came back.
Sora looked back at Jaune, answering enthusiastically, "Well we brought back all of Pooh's friends and restored his world back to its original state." As expected, his...explanation drew a few confused looks. "Apparently those missing pages carried pieces of his world. And by reuniting the pages with the book, we brought back both those places and Pooh's friends along with them."
The reaction was...honestly something that should have been expected. "Ooookay." Blake said, clearly not knowing how that was meant to work. But if it did, that was good enough for her and everyone else. Just add it to the list of strange things they'd seen since they started traveling with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
"Well I think it's precious that you were able to reunite Pooh with his friends." Pyrrha, despite not fully understanding it, seemed much more content to focus on the positives of the situation. And thankfully, there was a lot to focus on in that regard.
"And Ruby seems much more happy about it too." Yang observed, reaching reaching down to pull Ruby into a tight hug. "There's the adorable, happy little sister I know and love so much." she said in a doting, adoring tone.
Needless to say, her sudden, particular attention made Ruby cringe in her sister's embrace. "Yang...please...stop..." she groaned, feeling as if she was going to die of embarrassment. Both her team and Jaune's had already seen Yang dote on her many a time before, but it didn't make it any less embarrassing. Especially now that she had three new friends to see it. And the fact that they were laughing so cheerfully at her 'suffering' wasn't helping things at all, even after Yang finally let her go.
Weiss shifted her hips to the right as she looked at the hug-dazed Ruby. "Well, I suppose it's good to have Ruby back to her old self. So long as whatever change she and Sora went through in that book didn't make her as insufferable as Nora can sometimes be." she remarked dryly.
As to be expected, her comment drew an indignant "Hey!" from both Ruby and Nora.
But, as if to prove Weiss's point, Nora immediately went from being offended suddenly being in Ruby and Sora's faces with an excited smile. "So what else did you and Sora discover in that book?" Nora asked, irrepressible curiosity practically flowing from her like lava from a volcano. "You guys were in there for a while. Did you find something cool? Something crazy? Something AWESOME!?" And, as expected, she hit them with a veritable hurricane of questions.
"U-Uhhh..." Sora stuttered, unsure of how to handle this situation. He'd seen Nora's energy firsthand, but at this proximity and intensity?...Well suffice it to say, Ruby, even as a friend of Nora's, was at a loss for what to do as well. "I think some of my magic may have gotten more powerful." Sora answered.
"Ooooh! Really?! How'd it happen!? What can you do now?! What did you have to do to make it-"
Ren realized that Nora's energy was overwhelming Sora. Something which he was accustomed to, of course, though not all could take the torrential force of Hurricane Valkyrie. He had to step forward and grasp her by both arms, and miraculously, that stopped her right in her tracks. "Nora." he spoke up calmly, gently guiding her away.
"Yes Ren?" she answered, much more demurely than her usual exuberance as she looked up at the tall, slender young man.
After guiding her back among the rest of Team JNPR, Ren looked at her with a weary half-smile. "Let's just be happy to have them back with us." A request Nora was more than happy to acquiesce to as she bashfully smiled back at her childhood companion. The display surprised Sora. He could tell that Ren and Nora were close, but to see the absolute whirlwind of energy that was Nora Valkyrie be calmed so easily by Ren was...well, it was a wonder in and of itself. One that even now Ruby was astounded by, but always found endearing.
"Nora did raise a few interesting questions." Blake spoke up, looking back at Sora and Ruby. "You guys didn't just go to a world that was inside a book but it also made you stronger?"
"Uhh...Yeah, sort of." Ruby said, shrugging alongside Sora. The more they tried to think about how it worked, the more confusing it seemed. It was so much easier to just run with it while they were in the Hundred Acre Wood...then again, EVERYTHING felt simple there.
Donald looked up at Sora with a raised eyebrow and a tap of his webbed foot. "You don't even know how?" he asked in a scrutinizing fashion.
One which Sora took umbrage to as he met Donald's gaze with an indignant frown. "Hey! Just because I'm the Keyblade Master doesn't mean I know everything about it! I'm still just learning about it!"
Before the two of them could break out into another argument, Ren gave an audible, contemplative hum to draw everyone's attention. "Books that make people stronger...You know, these other worlds are getting more and more like those fairy tales we grew up with."
"Well of course books make people stronger." Weiss interjected, placing her hands proudly upon her hips. "Reading gives you knowledge, and knowledge helps you learn skills, which therefore makes you stronger. So it is just like they say. 'Knowledge is power.'"
Seeing Weiss set herself up the way she did, Yang couldn't help taking advantage of the opening she'd left. "If that's the case, then that must mean your room for improvement is vast since you haven't capped yet, even with all that studying you do."
"Hey! How dare you, Yang!" As Weiss broke out into a new tangent, the group couldn't help laughing at the spectacle. It truly was like the emotional turmoil they'd been briefly swept up in before hadn't happened at all. Times like this were somewhat like back in Remnant. Ruby hoped they could experience these moments again but back in their home world. But that was something for the future. They had to return to the gummi ship and continue their journey.
As they returned to it, the first thing everyone noticed was that the ship's cockpit was far more spacious, and it seemed to even have new systems installed. "We asked Cid to modify the ship's cockpit while you and Ruby were away, Sora. Now there's a seat for everyone." Donald explained as all of Ruby's friends took their own seats.
thank goodness. That cockpit was ridiculously crowded as it was." Weiss said with relief. One that everyone shared of course as a tightly packed cockpit didn't do much for travel comfort.
"Well, let's get going everyone!" Ruby announced enthusiastically, rushing ahead to the Gummi Ship. A display which drew a sigh from Weiss. "Something tells me whatever happened in that book is just going to make her more insufferable."
With a brief frown from Yang and everyone else steeling themselves for what was to come, they boarded the Gummi Ship and departed out into the starlit void once again. As they drifted about, a malaise of boredom spread throughout the group as there didn't seem to be anything happening, let alone any worlds in sight. "Ugh...Are we there yet?" Nora asked in a mildly whiny tone, leaning against Ren. "Not yet, Nora." he replied calmly.
Now that they thought about it... "Um...where exactly are we going next?" Pyrrha asked, finally realizing that they never asked about the next definite location.
"I dunno." Jaune said with a shrug. When neither Ruby nor Sora answered, Donald and Weiss put their fists on their hips and glared at them accusingly, leaving the pair askance for a moment.
"You have no idea where to go next, do you?" Blake asked with dry frankness in her voice.
"Uhhh..." "M-Maybe?" Sora and Ruby both said nervously. They didn't want to let on that they only JUST realized they didn't have an exact place to go...but they weren't exactly good at hiding it, especially under the intensifying glares of scrutiny Weiss and Donald sent their way.
"Well isn't that just great." Donald said sarcastically. He knew he shouldn't have given Sora the controls again.
"Aww, don't worry Donald. I'm sure somethin' will work out." Goofy interjected, ever the optimist.
"Yeah. Who knows? We may find something interesting just by cruising. I know I have." Yang said, nonchalantly leaning back in her seat.
"That's because most of the time, you don't care where you end up, Yang. And need I remind you that most of the time, you end up getting in trouble." Weiss counters.
A statement to which Yang responded with a fist pump and a cheery response of, "Heh. True!" Not the most reassuring statement for the Schnee heiress who pinched her brow wearily.
Their moment of combating boredom was disrupted by a large shadow suddenly gliding over the Gummi Ship. Everyone immediately dropped what they were doing, thinking, or about to try in order to stop the boredom.
"Uhhh, guys? I'm not the only one who saw that shadow, right?" Nora said, slowly pulling her hammer away from what looked to be an attempt to bonk Ren on the head.
"No, Nora...I saw it too." Ren said, narrowing his eyes tensely...utterly unaware of what his dear friend was contemplating to kill the boredom mere moments ago.
"Please don't tell me it's Monstro again..." Blake said with a groan in her voice. The last thing she wanted was to be swallowed by that whale again. She had more than enough of that irony to last a lifetime...and enough of Weiss's nitpicking on the subject of marine mammals vs fish too.
"No, we would have heard more noise than that if it was Monstro flying over us...This has to be something else." Pyrrha observed uneasily as she and Jaune stood up to look out different sides of the cockpit.
The next moment, Jaune spoke up, audibly wondering as he squinted at a distant shape within the nebulous, starry void. "Is that... a ship?"
His question immediately drew everyone's gaze to his side of the cockpit. And sure enough, it definitely wasn't Monstro. But they couldn't quite make out the features of the ship from where they were. "Another gummi ship?" Ruby wondered.
"Maybe it's this King Donald and Goofy have been searching for?" Pyrrha spoke up hopefully, immediately drawing the attention of Donald and Goofy all the more intently.
"No, no. It's an actual ship. Like, a sea voyaging one you'd see in history books." Jaune corrected as the ship seemed to drift closer to them. Sure enough...it was just like one of those old wooden, sail adorned ships.
As they all looked in awe, Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Jaune's right. It looks...just like those. A galleon specifically, going by the size and number of sails...How does that manage to fly...sail...whatever through interspace? Does it use some sort of levitation mechanics, or magic, or-"
"WAK! Quit gawking! That's a pirate ship!" Donald exclaimed when he noticed a VERY crucial detail that the rest of the group happened to miss.
The vessel was indeed a pirate ship with the flags on top being colored black and showing a white skull with crossed bones beneath it. As if that wasn't enough to make the situation even more worrying, the group only just noticed the ship was turning around and heading towards them at flank speed! "It's gonna ram us! Hold on tight!" Sora shouted. It was too late for them to do anything now. All they could do was brace for impact and hope that they'd survive the wrath of whatever pirates were on that ship.
