She was as still as a doll, her skin paler than it had ever been. And if it weren't for the faint juts of movement from her still breathing chest, one would not be remiss for mistaking Gwen's unconscious body for a fresh new corpse.

That was the assumption Trent made when he first saw her. The feelings he felt at that moment—feelings he was unaware he was capable of having—were indescribable. Even after Maleficent sat him down and slowly spelled out what her current ailment was, he struggled to even look at her without his stomach tangling up into a tightened wad.

"Okay," he took a deep breath. "You can do this."

With a quick look around, making sure no one else had entered the castle's chamber, he gently knelt his arms below Gwen's legs and shoulders. He made a quick pause and shifted his eyes around to doublecheck the area before slowly lifting her up.

"Pray tell, what are you up to right now?"

Trent laid her back down and turned towards Maleficent with a modest scowl. She easily blended in with the room's shadows, and he cursed at himself for not being more thorough in his checks.

"I told you I was going to do things my way," he mumbled.

"You realize when I loaned you that ship, I meant it as a symbolic contract for our allyship?" Maleficent eyed him with an almost pitying face. It was like she was talking down to a pet that couldn't understand why he was better off with her than cold in the streets. "I didn't expect you of all people to be foolish enough to venture off on your own."

There it was again. The same sense of resigned scorn he held back in Traverse Town that their partnership was inevitable.

Trent looked away. "Why are you so obsessed with me?"

"You act like you're special," her stout chuckle emitted an unnerving glee. "Not everyone can handle the darkness. When I sense someone with potential, I simply open my hand to them. And if they have clear connections to everything, even better.

"Besides," her falsely pleasant tone shifted to a more spiteful veneer. "It seems my other apprentices weren't quite as promising as I once thought."

He knew what she was talking about. Just yesterday, Heather and Ashley had returned from their excursion with a newly kidnapped princess at hand. The junior diva acted so high and mighty during her arrival, she was stuck in a state of shock for the rest of the evening after Maleficent chose to chide over her piss poor performance instead. And then there was Ashley, the golden standard of an evil lackey, who came back tattered, beaten, and reeking with the scent of vomit. Maleficent didn't even have to dress her down. With just one small exchange of glances, everyone could tell she was slowly on her way out from her good graces. All because neither of them were able to take down that Keybearer.

That lousy, egotistical, undeserving, sorry excuse for a Keybearer.

"There it is again," Maleficent spoke, snapping Trent out of his irritable thoughts.

"Huh?"

"You'd be amazed at just how much potential you possess."

He'd heard enough.

Trent stormed out without another word. He knew that woman was seeing him off with yet another one of her empty smiles, and he wasn't having it.

But in his head, he couldn't help but wonder why it was that she vexed him so. Truth be told, it wasn't because he was especially annoyed at her hollow nature. In fact, there was a part of him that was impressed she could present her deceitfulness so out and honest with no shame. There was a part of him that wished he could just let go and do the same.

That was probably why he was so troubled.

If he was just as empty as her…

…Why shouldn't this be the place where he belonged?

oOo

Things hadn't been quite this awkward in the Gummi Ship since Cody and Al were in their pissing contest phase. After leaving True Cross Academy, the group decided to turn back and drop their three new stragglers off at Traverse Town. Things were normal at first. Being the two tiny mascots of the bunch, Mokona and Red quickly took to running around like they were in a floating playground. Cody, Al, and Loudred conversed with one another as per usual. But things soon fizzled out because of those two.

They weren't being disruptive per se. In fact, Courtney and Duncan weren't saying much of anything really. But with their crossed arms, bitter slouches, and looks of utter resentment, just knowing they were back there making it painfully obvious that this was the last place they wanted to be was enough to have the mood come crashing down.

The two Pokemon had managed to nudge Cody over to try to lighten the pair up. An awful idea that was met with protest, of course. Cody sat alongside the two and attempted to launch a conversation every few minutes before shutting himself when he realized there was absolutely nothing to say. Truth be told, alongside some of the lower ranking bit characters from the show, he couldn't think of anyone else from the island he'd spoken to less than these two.

"So, uh…" Attempt number six. And this time, it led to actual words. "You guys were stuck there a really long time, huh?"

"..."

"..."

Still nothing.

"You, uh…" If only he stopped trying, he could just leave. But after being ignored for so long, a part of him refused to give up without getting even a single word out of them. "You guys are acting…surprisingly really down about leaving that place. Y'know, you probably won't have to steal food where we're going. And you'll have an actual place to stay. And, uh, I'm assuming you had a major language barrier issue going on until we got there?"

"Oh, please," Courtney rolled her eyes. He wanted to count this as a victory, but being met with her disdain hardly felt rewarding. "It was just Japanese. I learned the basics of a bunch of languages when I was a CIT. It wasn't that big of a deal."

As if Courtney breaking the silence was his cue to give in, Duncan spoke next. "I can't freaking believe it." He dug himself further into his chair and slung his arm over his eyes in frustration. "All that shit we stole over weeks just gone."

"Well, maybe if someone's hand didn't slip, we'd still have everything here with us."

Cody stared. He noticed it back at True Cross, but it really only just sunk in. How did the voice of reason of the two get so corrupted?

"I don't want to hear it, Princess," Duncan threw back.

The latest spat that Cody expected to bubble between the two didn't happen. Instead, Courtney began to reach into her back pockets before pulling out an elaborate ruby red necklace. "If it's any consolation, I've still got this."

Duncan, who let his discouragement consume him moments before, slipped into a proud and loving grin. This was their own special way of flirting.

The two seemed to have completely forgotten Cody was there. His face reddened as he realized what kind of tonal shift just happened in front of him. He understood why they were so downcast now. They lived like vagrants the past few weeks, but as weird as it was, the freedom and togetherness made it worth it. He couldn't tell if he was jealous, disgusted, disgruntled, amazed, or all four at once.

"Hey, Cody," Loudred called from the pilot's seat up front. "Could you come over here?"

Yes, please, thank you. He didn't even hesitate. He got up and fled right as the two began to exchange what he could only assume were bedroom eyes.

"So," he ducked towards the dashboard in between Al and Loudred. "What's up?"

Loudred turned his head away. "Uhhh…" He did a decent job hiding the distress in his voice when he called Cody over, but now that the teen was right beside him, his pursed lips and sweat were in full display.

"We're lost," Al followed up bluntly.

Cody shook his head in disbelief. "W-we're lost? What do you mean we're lost?"

"It means: we're lost."

"How can we be lost?" Cody looked back to make sure none of the others overheard them. "We only went to one world. Weren't we just going backwards to Traverse Town?"

"We were, and now we're lost!"

Alakazam slammed his fist on to an open area of the dashboard, less frustrated at Cody's response and more at his own acceptance of their plight.

And just after his small outburst, the ship started to shake.

Turbulence here and there was normal, but something wasn't right. The sways escalateated an abnormal rate. Normally, they'd be alright standing until it passed, but now, they could barely even keep their ground holding onto the seats and dashboard. Al was almost ready to assume responsibility for this and apologize, but the tremors got so bad, he was left to cower on the ground.

Loudred tried to keep his grip around the wheel as tight as it could, but as the harsh winds of space continued to crash on to them, he was forced off the pilot's seat and straight across the ship. With no one in control, all havoc broke loose. The ship twisted and turned in all different angles. Being able to duck and cower on the floor was now a luxury. No one could go a second without being slammed from one side of the ship to another.

It was already terrifying enough for Gummi Ship newbies, Duncan, Courtney, and Red, but to our heroes, this was their third time dealing with a mid-space mishap. And somehow, this was the worst one yet.

This one was going to kill them for sure!

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"I'm too young to die!"

"Everyone, calm dow—ah, ahhhhhh!"

"Oh, fuck this shit, I'm not going down like this!"

"You idiots! I could've piloted better than any of you!"

"Whee~"

Cody screamed his lungs out when the bouncing ship had the grace to fling him past the front window, giving him a good view of what exactly was going on. An undiscerning eye would never be able to see it, but if one concentrated enough, or perhaps was panicked enough to enact hidden survival skills in this case, a bloody auburn speck could be seen ahead, growing steadily inch-by-inch.

They were being sucked in.

oOo

THE NULL VOID

oOo

…

"'...You know, I don't like to admit it to people, but I know how lame I am. I try not to be, I really do. I'm always trying to be the popular cool kid, but it's obvious I was never meant to be one. Every time I say or do anything, I'm always trying to be someone I'm not.'"

…?

"'I know that feeling. I guess without the whole 'making everyone cringe at me' part.'"

"'What?'"

"'The whole friendless background and faking everything stuff.'"

Oh yeah. That day on the island. After everything that's happened so far, it felt almost forever ago.

"'So, wait, like...do you not care about people?'"

"'Don't care about people. Don't care about anything in life in general.'"

It's strange. He remembered that stormy evening back then. His entire life was turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Yet somehow, this conversation felt like the real starting point for everything to come.

"'I wonder if I'm just going back to the whole same-old same-old once school starts up again.'"

"'So, is that your big end goal here? To get popular?'"

"'Yeah. I know what you're thinking, but it's like a bad habit I can't break out of at this point.'"

"'You gotta snap out of it somehow.'"

That was the first time he ever really poured himself out on someone. Strange how it was all from a conversation with a guy he'd really only known for two months tops at that point in time. Even if it sounded a bit premature or sad, at that moment, he really did consider Trent his first real friend. The first real person who seemed to get him. It almost made him sad to know that said first friend wound up turning down his adventuring invitation. He wondered what Trent was up to right now.

"'It's just a hunch, but I've always felt traveling around might do me good. Seeing different sights, checking to see if new experiences trigger anything in me. I've never really felt like I belonged where I came from so...maybe I would somewhere else.'"

"'And if that doesn't work?'"

"'Burn everything down I guess.'"

There was a new, disconnected voice.

"...Why is this my first time hearing this?"

?!

She was in his weird dreams too, huh? It figured.

"Yeah, do you have a problem with that?" The dream Gwen shot back accusingly.

Strange. This felt a lot more conversational. Not really lucid at all.

"That's because I'm trying to talk to you right now."

…Huh?

"Do you get it now?"

Could it be? That strange Phantom Gwen, the one who felt there but not at the same time. Was she here in his thoughts now too?

"Of course I am, genius." She was an unattached voice in a shrouded dream world, yet he could sense her eye roll all the same. "Listen, I just want to talk right now. There's so much I don't get. Can you—"

Suddenly, the dreamscape that started off as a foggy recollection of the beaches of Wawanakwa faded into a blinding white. A strange door came hurtling towards his field of vision from the distance. It wasn't just any door.

It was that door.

Just right in front of his inner perception, it cracked right open, sheering out a blinding sunburst that brightened the already bright white plane…

…

…

…

…

…

"...Hey, Cooooooodyyyyyyyy."

Aching and groggy, Cody wiped a fresh drip of drool off his mouth. A small puddle had apparently formed beneath his resting head on the dashboard. He felt a bit guilty dirtying Loudred's station up, but he hoped that after whatever excursion they'd been dragged into now wrapped up, it'd be all dry and gone.

He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the ship's front window, which was shockingly still intact without a crack to be seen. Mokona was right outside, bouncing on the hilt of the front engine, and pointing his ears to Cody's right; a signal to leave the deck and join up with the others.

"Where the heck are we?" He spoke silently to himself. Just from what he could see from out the window, the boundless edges of space were drowned with a deathly scarlet hue. There were no more stars or distant worlds to be seen; just the dying chunks of stray debris that slowly faded into ghostly white chalk.

Cody continued to examine the new world around them as he gradually crept outside. Their immediate landing spot did little to lift his unease. Among the hundreds of decaying rubble that floated about, they seemed to have safely landed on but one of them. Perhaps one of the largest ones out here. There was no immediate sign of life or civilization in this dull and rigid quarry. The only ounce of life, in a metaphorical sense, that he could parse were the strange purple goops of veiny grime that protruded from out of the hulking boulder they were on and its stalagmites. They shaped themselves into what seemed like demented imitations of trees.

Wherever they were, clearly there was no easy way out. Or else he knew for sure the others would've hightailed out of this freakish ghost galaxy the first moment they could.

"Hey," he tapped on Loudred's shoulder. "What happened?"

The big oaf smiled; a strange expression given the current situation they were in. "Believe it or not, the shaking calmed down enough for me to get things back in order and land ourselves no problem. I think you already fainted at that point." He chuckled heartily much to Cody's displeasure.

"Hey, this isn't funny," Al pointed at him. "We need to figure out how to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Alright, everyone, gather around." Courtney clapped her hands, alerting the others towards her near the center of the meteoric mound they stood on. "If we want to survive, we've gotta put together a proper gameplan."

"Hey, hey, hey," Al butted in. "Since when were you in charge?" He could hear Duncan snort beside him like the guy knew that this was coming.

"Since a pack of buffoons got us stranded here in the first place."

"She's got a point," Duncan shrugged, a snide smile on his face. "With how shitty you guys handled things, I can't believe you weren't dead before you found us."

Cody, Loudred, and Mokona exchanged looks amongst one another. Alakazam was sparkling red, and they all knew what was going to happen next.

"I'd like to see you do better!"

"Oh, I will," Courtney nodded matter-of-factly.

This only made him madder. "What makes you think you can just take over?!"

"Well, I was a CIT."

"I don't even know what that is!"

"Neither do I, to be honest," Cody said in the background.

Just as everyone anticipated, Al and Courtney launched themselves into a squabble fest; one that was perhaps infinitely more grating than a regular argument between either of them and anyone else. The others who saw this coming from a mile away stood idly by, having put their fear and uncertainty over their new location on a temporary pause. Al's entourage meandered amongst themselves while Duncan looked like he was prepared to egg the two on to make the situation even worse.

Red, the one other outsider of this mismatched crew, continued to timidly survey the decrepit space rock they were on. There was, of course, nothing beyond the graying boulders and peculiar purple structures. Or at least at a glance.

He squinted his eyes at a strange dark slit hidden between the crevasses. One would easily assume it was nothing but an atypical shadow; a result of the bleak lighting in this strange place bereft of most normal light sources. But there was just something odd about it.

Like it was moving.

"Uh, guys…" Red quickly crawled away behind his companions, already prepared for the battle that was up ahead.

The start of the attack was abrupt. The moment the Heartless realized they'd been spotted, they swarmed in like a race at its starting point. With the bicker break they had given themselves, they were taken completely off guard. Their opening strikes were sloppy in nature as they scrambled to force themselves into a fighting mindset. Duncan and Courtney attempted to flee to safety in the Gummi Ship, but the absolute blockade of Heartless forced them to join Red in cowering behind the struggling fighters instead.

A stray crossbow arrow suddenly shot its way into the helmet of an unsuspecting Soldier, forcing out hurls of black soot like a blood spurt. Its allies stiffened in surprise, allowing them to be easy targets to not only an additional load of arrows, but an entire medley of projectiles as well.

Reinforcements had arrived. Cody couldn't help but smile. It reminded him of the fateful encounter with Rin and the others back at True Cross. Because of that, after the Heartless faded off, he couldn't help but excitedly run up to greet their saviors.

He wasn't expecting one of them to knee him in the stomach.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?!" Courtney was among the loudest of the bunch voicing her protest to being knocked down, tied, and lugged carelessly under the arms of the bandit-like group.

The ravagers refused to utter a single word as they carried the crew off to who-knows-where. The more they whined and complained, the more stone cold their faces shined. Al practically started to have an anxiety attack over the ordeal; something that Duncan couldn't help but snicker over like this moment was long overdue payback for True Cross.

Their trek led them into what appeared to be an oversized encampment. Alien creatures of all shapes and sizes, draped in either battle ready gear or poorly stitched rags, looked over at the hostile spectacle with curiosity. Their hopeless yowling against their captors were replaced with desperate pleas towards anyone who would care to listen. Surely at least one person would care to set them free?

"Courtney?! Duncan?! Cody?!'

A familiar blonde surfer girl came running alongside the three teens, her face filled with just as much distress as theirs.

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?!" Cody and Duncan repeated her simultaneously.

"Bridgette! Thank goodness!" Courtney was so frazzled, she couldn't be bothered to feel any shock at her friend's random appearance. "Tell these people to let go of us!"

"Hey, Bridgette, do you actually know these guys?" The bandit handling Courtney asked, causing the girl to switch to a small fit of confused outrage.

"What?!" Courtney cried. "Are you actually associated with these thugs?"

Bridgette completely ignored the other girl's comments and hastily replied to the man. "Yeah, these three are from my world. What are you guys doing to them?"

"Hey, watch it, asshole!"

Before the man could give Bridgette a proper response, Duncan began to violently twist around in reaction to his captor slinging him perhaps way too close to the ground. The bandit tried to calm him down, but each attempt only caused Duncan to be more fervent with kicks and nudges. Eventually, his outburst became rough enough that his feet shinned and gashed against Cody's head behind him.

"Alright, what exactly is going on here?"

A new voice set foot into the scene; a young man clad in green and black with spikes protruding out of his face and arms. His dark mullet that was quickly becoming overcome with bright white streaks gave him an air of aged maturity, though in reality, he was not much older than the four campers themselves. Still, his command and authority definitely reflected that of a trusted elder than of a boy barely breaching adulthood. The commotion that had begun to brew quickly subsided, and the men who had manhandled the crew so recklessly were reduced to nervous stilts.

"I, uh, Pierce," one of the men spoke up. "We saw them land a while ago, and—"

"Let me guess," Pierce lightly tapped his hand on his forehead with a look of chagrin. "You captured them and brought them here so you could ravage their ship for parts without anyone trying to stop you."

He was dead on. No one could say a word.

Pierce shook his head disapprovingly. "How many times do I have to say this? This isn't how we do things here."

"But," one of them finally had the guts to gulp. "If their ship has parts we need, we can just add it to ours and everyone, including them, would be able to leave."

"If they offered to give them up, that's fine. But none of you have any right to just decide that they're going to sacrifice their escape method." He crossed his arms sternly. "You're going to let them all go now. And if any one of you have already started messing around with their ship, you're going to put everything back where they belong. Got it?"

"...Yes, sir."

With the tone shifted, the men carefully untied their ropes, making sure even the tiniest scratch couldn't get on them. Offering but a weak hearted apology, they then slunk away guiltily as they started their trek back to replay the message over to their other colleagues.

The hostility subsided, but Duncan still wasn't ready to let it go. The moment he was free, he practically started to pounce on Pierce, ready to lay him a new one for the actions of his associates. It was only Al and Loudred's quick impulses that kept him from doing the deed. Instead, he now wriggled behind the two Pokemons' arms, only marginally more dignified than his earlier stance.

"Now that that's settled," Courtney cleared his voice and turned her attention back to Bridgette. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"Well," she bit her lip. "It's hard to explain. After all of…that happened back on the island…" She looked away like Wawanakwa's demise was a pained memory. "I just suddenly ended up here. I tried to see if anyone else from the island was here too, but it was just me. I couldn't find you, or Duncan, or Gwen, or DJ, or Geoff…"

Bridgette's voice trailed off. To Cody, Courtney, and Duncan, they could tell what was coming the moment his name left her mouth. But to Al, Loudred, Mokona, and Red, they were completely unprepared to witness the whiplash. One moment, Bridgette was cool and collected. The next, she was bawling like a child who'd gotten lost from their family.

Pierce let out a sympathetic sigh. Apparently, he was already used to this version of her. "Sorry. When she gets like this, she's pretty much done for the rest of the day."

He shook his head once more before returning to a more composed position. "If it's alright with me asking, how did you all end up here?"

"Well, uh," Cody shuffled around in his words, unsure if he was about to reveal something embarrassing or not. "We kind of got lost while traveling around and we got…sucked into a black hole I guess?"

Pierce nodded. "Another wormhole. Sounds in line with what's been going on here lately."

"Can you tell us where exactly we are?" Cody nervously shifted his eyes around the settlement. The curious eyes of many of the motley aliens still lingered towards the group. "This…doesn't seem like any normal world."

"Right you are," Pierce replied. "This place is called the Null Void. It's a dimension where time stands still and everything that goes in, stays in. Used to be that this was a last resort prison for the worst criminals you could imagine. Nowadays, the residents are a mix of descendents of captives and people like you who accidentally stumble through."

"Waiit, wait, wait, wait," Al rapidly flailed his arms in alarm. "Go back a bit. 'Everything that goes in, stays in'?"

Like Al had just alerted a truck to come crashing into them, everyone dropped what they were doing to stare like deers in headlights.

Were they…stuck?

"This is our home now!" Mokona broke the silence with his inappropriate cackles. For once though, it almost sounded like his outburst was out of genuine fear. The crackling of his laughter scratched deep into his throat like he was trying to joke his way into mental denial.

While everyone got ready to fall into a puddle of doom and gloom, Pierce remained calm with a slight smile; a smile that was neither one of knowing pity or one of naive determination.

He gently patted the top of Mokona's head, calming the rabbit creature down. "Don't worry. If it makes sense, you all came at the worst and best time.

"Things have gotten a little strange here recently. It's not uncommon for newcomers to just randomly show up, but people, like your friend, Bridgette…"

Bridgette continued to bawl like no one's business.

"...Have been popping up out of nowhere with all the same stories about those Heartless creatures. And better yet…"

A black dot opened up in the distance. If one squinted enough, they could make out the vague image of Heartless bodies popping out and falling weightlessly onto a far off chunk of rock.

"...Strange wormholes like that one keep popping up and bringing those nuisances with them."

"How is any of that good though?" Cody scratched the back of his head. If anything, it was a sign that the Heartless had set their sights on tearing this place apart next.

"That's the same kind of wormhole you all came in from, right?"

"Yeah…"

"That means we can use them to get out," Pierce let out a small grin, but never let go of his no nonsense veneer. "We've been putting together a massive ship that can fit the whole camp here. It's still a work in progress, and those knuckleheads earlier roughed you up because they wanted to see if your ship had anything we needed. But we're nearing the finishing touches. It won't be long until we're all out of here."

"So, wait," Duncan lurched forward with cunning eyes. "That means we can just leave next time one of those things pop up, no problem?"

"Duncan," Courtney gave him a disapproving nudge. "We can't just leave everyone else here like that. That's rude. Isn't that right, Bridgette?"

Bridgette was still too busy sobbing to respond.

With nothing more for Pierce to share, all attention returned to the distraught surfer girl. Her overwhelming emotions continued to pour out with no end in sight, and each tear shed filled the others with uncomfortable unease.

"Hey, Pierce!" Someone shouted off from afar. "We could use some help over here."

Cody could swear he saw Pierce mutter a "Thank God" under his breath.

"Bridgette," he tapped her shoulder as he took his abrupt leave. "Take care of these guys for me, alright?"

Completely unlike the clear leaderlike speech he had before, his instructions to Bridgette trickled out like he didn't expect her to retain them at all. With Pierce long gone, the group was left with an ever increasingly uncomfortable atmosphere as they just stood around with their crying friend and without a steady head like Pierce around for reassurance.

"Is this what I was like back in True Cross?" Red cringed.

"No, you were definitely worse," Al sighed. "If she's gonna be our guide here, can any of you think of a way to calm her down?"

Al could already see Loudred holding on to Mokona, ready to try the same technique that failed against both Red and Geoff. He gave the duo a disapproving glare before they could make things worse.

"I think we should slap her," Red suggested, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Of course we can't do that," Courtney responded. "Look, I was trained in dealing with situations like this. Just leave it to me."

Courtney took a moment to breathe in and switched up her expression to that of a kind counselor. She gently placed her hands on Bridgette's shoulders as she hoped to bring her friend into a place of comfort.

"Hey, Bridgette, don't cry. You were probably lonely, but things are going to be okay, alright?"

She still cried.

"If there's anything you need, just tell me, okay? We're in this together."

The crying continued.

"You're stronger than this. I know you are."

The crying did not stop.

"Please calm down. You need to pull yourself together."

No dice.

Courtney slapped her square across the face.

Despite having just been hit, Bridgette's stream of tears never missed a beat. She perhaps had wallowed too far into her sorrow to realize what Courtney just did. The lack of feedback however did not stop the others from sharing their mixed reactions. Red and Duncan seemed the most amused at the action with one acting proud that his idea went through and the other entering a heave of laughter. Loudred and Mokona were astonished, almost impressed at Bridgette's ability to retain her current state. Al just stood agape at what he'd just witnessed. And Cody was left shaking his head and facepalming to himself.

"Some great CIT skills you've got there," he noted sarcastically.

"I'd like to see you do better," Courtney harumphed in response.

"Do it again!" A trio of misplaced enthusiasm sounded from Red, Mokona, and Duncan, who was at the cusp of tears from all his laughter.

Perhaps it was completely based on personal instincts, or perhaps it was a delayed response to the slap, but suddenly, the still hysterical Bridgette made a mad dash away from the encampment. The others jumped in surprise at her sudden outburst, and by the time they were ready to catch up to her, she was already long gone and away into the distance.

"Oh, crap," Cody groaned. "We can't let her get caught by the Heartless while she's like that."

"Mokona, would you mind staying back here to keep an eye on the others while me, Cody, and Al go find her?" Loudred poked over to the little white blob.

"Aye aye!" He excitedly chirped.

"You're leaving the tiny furball in charge?" Duncan hated normal authority figures, but somehow, having this creature placed above him felt even worse.

"Deal with it," Al, having lost his patience with both of the group's unwanted guests a long while ago, rolled his eyes before he and the others quickly made their exit.

Loudred keyed in on the faint noise of Bridgette's woes and led them into a hidden path just outside the enclave. Shrouded within the branches of purple glop was an enormous metallic structure. There was no question what exactly this was supposed to be; it was the escape ship that Pierce boasted about. Despite resembling a hunk of patchwork with numerous clashing parts all cobbled together, it shined with a pristine gleam; a sign of the hope that those trapped in the void placed into the ship.

Right under the towering ship was the very scene Cody feared would occur. There was Bridgette, still bawling with her hands all wrapped up over her flaked eyes, surrounded by a circle of Heartless that slowly prowled towards her like they were inspecting their prey. In her condition, she couldn't even be bothered to realize just how much danger she was in.

"Oh no," Cody gasped.

He quickly summoned out his Keyblade and urged the other two to act fast. The Heartless showed mercy to her through their idle inspection, but the longer they waited, the more their hunger for her heart grew. They slowly crawled forward, ready to engulf her while they stuck to their sneaky and calculated manner. All except for one stray Shadow that leapt excitedly for the first bite in their meal.

"Watch out!"

Bridgette looked up, her eyes still blurry from the rivers she poured out. She could make out vague blurs of black catapulting right towards her. This would've been her last moments if she hadn't snapped out of it sooner.

Under the noise of panic from her peers in the background, Bridgette, not wasting even a second to freshen up her eyes, reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a small stick. With a quick flick of her wrist, she spun it intricately around her fingers until it wound up like the propellers of a toy helicopter. The spool spun and spun while it grew in size with each revolution. Finally, she swung the death spiral right at the Heartless gone awol, killing it instantly.

With the death of one of their own, the sly Heartless shifted away from their calculated slink and into a collective charge. Bridgette sniffled and paused as she spent the next seconds assessing the situation. The moment a Heartless came inches away from her, she instantly launched herself into an all-out assault, twisting and twirling around her double-sided naginata as if she had wielded it her entire life. By the time the last Heartless met its end, not even an entire minute had passed since her tantrum. She stabbed one end of her bladed spear to rest on the ground and wiped away the last remnants of her crying fit as a personal reward for a battle well done.

The onlooking trio's jaws were dropped. She wasn't even in her best form, yet she handled that fight like it was nothing.

"Holy cow," Cody gleefully applauded her. "That was amazing!"

"Thanks," Bridgette dragged one last droplet away on the tip of her finger.

"You couldn't have been out here longer than we've been at it," Al began to eye her weapon curiously. "How much training have you done?"

"Has it not been that long?" She looked upwards while she thought it over. "Hard to keep track of anything in the Void."

"I mean, time or not, I never took you for a fighter," Cody added.

"Oh," she shrugged. "I calm my nerves by moving around. Can't exactly surf or skate here, and jogging's out of the picture when even the main base isn't all that safe. So, this was the next best thing."

"I'll say," Loudred nodded. "You looked like you snapped out of it just like that."

"I did, didn't I? Almost completely forgot about…"

Bridgette was right about to muster out a light smile, but in just a split second, it already started to falter. Her breathing returned to its wild and stuttered state and her dried up eyes rapidly recovered. The trio panicked. She had just snapped out of it and she already started to fall back. The three flailed around and tried to find a quick distraction to turn things back before Cody finally went and pointed vigorously at the oversized ship they stood in front of.

"So, uuuhh, that's the ship Pierce was talking about, right? Almost ready to go?"

Bridgette wiped off her face. "Yeah." There was still a slight crackle in her voice, but the distraction seemed to have worked. "It's actually pretty functional. But it's huge and we've got a lot of people, so we're still going to need some parts so it doesn't cave in on itself while we're on board."

Bridgette's eyes widened a bit, bright and confident with a new idea brewing. "Actually, you guys are going to stay here for a bit, right? Mind helping out? We've split off a bunch of the engines and stuff into separate hiding places so they don't all go down at once if something bad happened like earlier. Might be a good time to go check them out and make sure there's no Heartless crawling near them. And we can go scavenging for more parts while we're at it."

"No complaints here," Cody replied.

"I'll pass," Al waved the offer off. "To be honest, I don't like the idea of leaving Mokona alone for too long. I think I'll head back and make sure he and the others aren't getting into trouble."

"That makes me the de facto chaperone then," Loudred chortled as he gave Cody a light slap on the shoulder.

"Great," Bridgette said, already trudging along. "Come on. I'll show you guys all our hideaways and shortcuts."

With Bridgette's emotions finally leveled and their immediate goals sorted out, everyone made their way out of the secluded nook and scattered off. To Cody and friends, this entire world was an unexpected detour for them. Theoretically, they could go whenever they pleased, but leaving all these people behind to cower and fend for themselves was just not their style. For all they knew, they could be stuck here assisting them for a while. Despite that, they were determined to make sure not a single person was stuck stranded for even a second more.

A mysterious figure crept around and watched the group as they made their quick split. He had hid atop of and inspected the getaway ship long before they'd arrived. The moment he stepped in, the Heartless from earlier had followed along like annoying stray pups. In a way, Bridgette's battle was nothing more than bad timing for both parties involved.

He paced back and forth around the ship's surface while he mulled over what his next move would be. He was no different from anyone else who made their way into the Void: Stuck and stranded. But just like Cody, he could have easily left whenever he pleased.

Whether he planned to take that option or not was a question even he couldn't answer.

I get zero interactions on this fic and I'm too scared to look at my metrics, so I'm convinced I have a have a regular readership of three, lmao.