And now we begin with a Disney world that hasn't been in Kingdom Hearts yet. But first, a small scene at the castle where we meet some old friends of Chip and Dale's.
Enjoy!
The next morning, everyone was gathered for breakfast down in the dining room. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Ven, Aqua, Terra, Roxas, Lea, Xion, Naminé, Isa, Myde, Minnie, Daisy, Max, Oswald, and Ortensia were joined by Scrooge, Ludwig, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Lena, Violet, Beakley, Launchpad, Chip, Dale, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Seifer, Rai, Fuu, and Vivi at the dinner table. They were all eating pancakes, sausage, and were drinking milk.
Seifer wore a blue crop-top vest with white lining under a floor-length, sleeveless white coat with a black lapel. He had baggy, aubergine pants belted with a cream-colored lace, which he tucked into black combat boots with light blue laces. He also wore a black tuque with the "Ore" kanji on his head.
Rai wore an orange tank top featuring black and white tribal designs on the chest and two thunderbolts on the upper back, and dark baggy sweatpants bearing red stripes and the number 8 on the hip over wide yellow sneakers. Around his neck, he wears a thunderbolt necklace, and he keeps a white and blue sweatband on each wrist.
Fuu wore a sleeveless, navy blue, zippered jacket with a high collar and bottom trim, both slightly darker, and khaki Capri pants with irregularly placed pockets: one on her right thigh and one on her lower left leg. She wore lavender slip-on shoes that somewhat resemble Crocs.
Vivi wore a sky blue coat with elaborate, dark blue stitching at the edges, secured by a tan string tied around four yellow buttons, though still opened to expose his pitch black torso. The white cuffs of this jacket were oversized and sported a similar lining to the rest of the jacket, though brown instead of blue, and the sleeves cover half of his hands, which were themselves covered by brown gloves. The jacket also sported two large pockets on the front, each kept closed by a vertical white strap connected to a sky blue button. His pants were green and held up by a brown belt, and his shoes were brown with several raised tan stripes. His large, tan hat resembled a face, with a large open zipper resembling a mouth in the middle of the hat, and two "eyes" just above this, shaped like a pale green star on the left and an oblong shape on the right. Above this, the hat flopped over and curled. Near the brim was a wide brown strap, and on one side is a tear or seam that had been stitched with brown cord.
Beakley wore a purple long-sleeved shirt with a lavender shirt underneath and an aqua broche. She wore a grey skirt with a white apron around it, grey footsocks, black heels, and black glasses.
Launchpad wore his usual jacket, pants, and boots, but now wore a green undershirt, a green cap, and his jacket was zipped up.
Ludwig wore a grey jacket, a white collared shirt, a black tie, a brown vest, and glasses similar to Scrooge's.
"So how has the traninging been going for yer army?" asked Scrooge.
"Going great actually." replied Riku. "Aladdin, Jasmine, Woody, and Buzz are doing great with their Keyblades."
"Their spell casting isn't as powerful as ours, but they still manage to perform them well." added Naminé.
"What about the others?" asked Dewey.
"Leon, Cloud, and Zack have been teaching Cassim different sword fighting techniques." said Isa.
"Sometimes Genie would join in." added Sora. "As for Abu, Iago, and Carpet, they've been doing sneak attacks."
"Fighting from the air does have it's advantages." nodded Beakley.
"You bet!" said Launchpad. "Just like the Shadow War!"
"Weren't you scared fighting shadows on top of a plane wing hundreds of feet in the air?" asked Violet.
"Vi, this is Launchpad we're talking about." reminded Huey before he quickly turned to Launchpad. "No offence LP."
"None taken at all!" Launchpad said dismissively.
"So I hear that Aladdin and Jasmine are married." said Beakley.
"You're correct Mrs. B." smiled Naminé. "We all attended the wedding."
"In fact, our entire team was involved in it." added Lea.
This got surprised looks from everyone.
"You were all involved in the wedding?" asked Pence.
"Yep." nodded Donald. "All the guys were the Best Men."
"And the ladies were the Bridesmaids." added Daisy.
"Aladdin decided to have us all participate so no one would feel left out." said Lea. "Got it memorized?"
"Oh yes. Very memorized." Lena smirked.
Everyone chuckled.
"They seem very nice together based on what I heard." said Scrooge.
"You bet." nodded Ven.
"Love is always a wonderful thing to see." said Minnie with a smile at Mickey who smiled back.
"It is a nice way for people to truly be together." nodded Scrooge.
"You mean like you and your girlfriend?" Louie teased, getting snickers from his brothers.
Terra, Aqua, Isa, Seifer, Rai, Fuu, Vivi, Lena, and Violet's jaws dropped.
"SCROOGE HAS A GIRLFRIEND?!" Lena shouted.
"It's not like that!" Scrooge shouted indignantly.
Sora, Riku, Roxas, Lea, Ven, Myde, Donald, Goofy, Max, Hayner, Pence, Chip, and Dale burst out laughing. Mickey, Oswald, Beakley, and Launchpad chuckled. Kairi, Naminé, Xion, Minnie, Daisy, Ortensia, Webby, and Olette giggled. Huey, Dewey, and Louie cried and catcalled mockingly.
"What's her name?" asked Violet, curious.
"Her name's Goldie." said Webby.
"We haven't met her yet, but what we do is that she and Scrooge have a long complicated history." said Kairi.
"Why's that?" asked Aqua.
"She's a con artist." Sora replied.
"You got the dirt?" Lena asked Webby.
"A ncie, big folder." she replied.
Webby and Lena giggled.
Scrooge rapped the table, getting everyone's attention.
"Tomfoolery concerning Goldie O'Gilt aside, love is a nice thing between couples and family." Scrooge continued calmly.
"Just like what all the toys are to Woody and Buzz." nodded Roxas.
"How are they able to come to life anyway?" asked Seifer.
"Your guess is as good as any of ours." shrugged Riku.
"So what world will you visit today?" Ludwig asked Sora and his team.
"Not sure Professor." Mickey replied.
"We're gonna check the computer to see if anything's up." said Chip.
"After breakfast of course." added Dale.
"Golly you two! You won't even be here to greet your old friends?" came a voice.
Chip and Dale paused eating as they dropped their silverware in surprise, jaws dropped.
"Who was that?" asked Xion.
(Rescue Rangers theme plays)
Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Scrooge, and Ludwig smirked while everyone else was confused.
"I think we know." said Daisy.
"They're here!" Dale exclaimed happily.
Then, coming in through the hall came what looked like a flying contraption made out of random parts. Piloting it was a female mouse with cream fur, thick strawberry-blonde hair, light blue eyes, wearing lavender mechanic coveralls with a purple belt and purple goggles.
Sitting next to her was a larger mouse with light brown fur and a cream muzzle, a red mustache, green eyes, a blue sweatshirt, a light beige jacket, and a brown pilot hat with goggles.
Sitting in the back was a small green fly wearing a red shirt.
The female mouse parked set the contraption on the ground.
(Rescue Rangers theme ends)
"Nice landing Gadget luv, as always." said the larger mouse with Australian accent.
"Thanks Monterey." thanked Gadget.
"Gadget! Monty! Zipper!" Chip and Dale exclaimed excitedly as they jumped out of their chairs and ran towards the two mice and the fly.
"Well I'll be a kangaroo's joey! Chip and Dale! Me ol' pallies!" Monterey said excitedly.
Chip and Dale hugged the other three.
"We forgot you guys were coming today!" said Chip.
"Surprised huh?" asked Gadget.
"Uh huh! You bet!" nodded Dale.
Then, the fly started buzzing as he pointed up.
"What is it Zipper?" asked Monty.
Zipper pointed up and they looked to see everyone else looking at the five.
"Golly! We got ourselves an audience." said Gadget. "Oh, a big and tall one too!"
"Who are these little guys?" asked Aqua.
"These are our old teammates." said Chip. "The Rescue Rangers!"
Immediately, it dawned on everyone aside from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Scrooge, and Ludwig.
"Oh so this is the Rescue Rangers team you guys told us about!" said Kairi.
"Nice to meet you." said Sora as he bent down to their level.
"Pleasure's all ours chap." said Monty. "Name's Monterey Jack. Monty for short."
"I'm Gadget. Gadget Hackwrench." said Gadget.
Zipper buzzed happily as he waved hello to the humans and toons.
"I'm guessing your Zipper?" asked Roxas.
"Uh huh!" Zipper buzzed as he nodded.
"Welcome back to the castle Rescue Rangers!" Mickey greeted warmly.
"Oh yes! It's so wonderful to have Chip and Dale's old friends back!" added Minnie.
"Thanks Your Majesties." said Monty before correcting himself. "Sorry, I mean Mickey and Minnie."
"It does feel nice to visit again." nodded Gadget. "Your castle still looks amazing."
"Why thank you Gadget." smiled Minnie.
Gadget turned to Donald and Daisy. "Hey Donald! Hi Daisy!" she greeted.
"Hi Gadget!" said Daisy.
"Chip and Dale told us that you two are engaged." added Gadget.
"You have our congratulations mates." said Monty.
"Thanks, you two." smiled Donald.
"Nice to see you three again." said Goofy.
"Hi Goofy!" said Gadget. "How've you been? Oh! And how's Max?"
"I've been a-ok! A-hyuck!" Goofy replied, chuckling.
"And to answer your second question, I've been good too." added Max as he walked up next to his Dad.
"Good to hear, mates." said Monty.
"Greetings Rescue Rangers." said Scrooge.
"Delightful to see you again." said Ludewig.
"Thanks Mr. McDuck. You two Professor Von Drake." thanked Gadget.
Dale then noticed something.
"Hey, where's Foxglove?" he asked.
Gadget, Monty, and Zipper looked around.
"Well that's strange." said Monty as he scratched the side of his head. "She was flying alongside us before we came in through the door."
"Uh huh!" buzzed Zipper.
"Courtesy of Duckworth by the way." Gadget added.
"Which one's Foxglove again?" asked Ven.
Suddenly a flash of pink rammed into Dale, making the chipmunk yell in surprise as he landed on the floor. He was then wrapped in a hug by someone he knew well.
"Foxy!" Dale exclaimed happily.
The one hugging him was a beautiful pink-furred bat with a reddish-brown tint, blue eyes, and a tuft of fur between her ears.
"Hey Dale." she said with a smile. "Nice to see you again."
"You too!" Dale said happily.
"Oh that's right! Foxglove's the bat they befriended on one of their missions." said Sora as he remembered.
Dale and Foxglove regrouped with the Rangers.
"I see you two have made a lot of friends since we last met." said Gadget.
"They sure have." said Sora. "I'm Sora."
He then gestured to everyone else.
"This is Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Lea, Isa, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Myde, Oswald, Ortensia, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Seifer, Rai, Fuu, Vivi, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Lena, Violet, Launchpad, and Mrs. Beakley." he added as they waved hello.
They all waved hello.
"Golly! You're all quite the crowd." said Gadget.
"Thanks." giggled Xion. "Chip and Dale told us about you guys."
"I bet they did." said Monty.
"Oh? Like what?" asked Gadget.
"Like how the original five always did the heroic jobs no humans could do on their own." said Lea.
"And how you used to live in a tree in the middle of the park as your HQ." added Ven.
"We thought it was odd, but you guys do seem like a great team." said Louie.
Monty, Gadget, and Zipper smiled at the chipmunks before looking back at the others, feeling touched.
"Thanks lads." said Monty.
"Is it true that Foxglove is the sixth Ranger now?" asked Kairi.
"Oh yes!" said Foxglove as she hugged Dale. "It does feel nice being with my new friends. Even if two of them always have to work at the castle, which I don't blame them for."
"None of us do." added Gadget.
"Thanks." smiled. "Anyways, we upgraded the lab since the last time you were here. Wanna check it out, Gadget?"
Gadget beamed excitedly. "Oh yeah! I really do!" she exclaimed before smiling warmly at Chip. "And it'll be nice being with you again. I missed you Chip."
"And I missed you too, Cutie." Foxglove said to Dale.
Then, Gadget and Foxglove gave Chip and Dale kisses on their cheeks, making them blush.
"AWW!" Kairi, Naminé, Xion, Aqua, Olette, Minnie, Daisy, Ortensia, Webby, and even Lena and Violet cooed at the adorable scene.
"That's so cute." Aqua gushed.
Chip, Dale, Gadget, Monty, and Zipper hopped into the Rescue Ranger plane, and together, they and Foxglove flew out into the hall and into the center elevator.
"What a cool team." said Dewey.
"Just like ours." Sora said to his teammates, who smiled in return.
Later after breakfast, everyone was doing their own thing.
Out in the backyard, Lena was teaching Aqua and Donald some magic skills.
"Okay, here's how it works, you two." she explained. "All you have to do is concentrate dark energy in your palm and this is what happens."
She held out her open hands and purple energy gathered in them before she released them as a purple blast of energy.
"Impressive." mused Aqua.
"Cool." Donald nodded in agreement.
"I can even do this." added Lena.
She held her hand up and a sharp purple energy disk formed which she tossed at a couple of trees, cutting them down.
"Wow!" the two mages said in awe.
"I didn't know you could do that!" Donald exclaimed, impressed.
Lena smiled. "Shadow Magic can be manipulated into different shapes." she explained. "Now you guys try."
"We won't be corrupted by darkness, will we?" asked Aqua.
"Don't worry, Aqua. That'll never happen." assured Donald. "Remember, darkness isn't truly evil. It's only the person who misuses it like Magica. It can be used for good like Riku, Oswald and Lena have."
"Yeah." nodded Lena. "Besides, I've been using dark magic my whole life and look how I've turned out."
Aqua nodded. "Alright. Let's give it a go."
Donald and Aqua held up their right hands and concentrated hard. After 10 seconds, purple magic energy appeared in their hands.
"Nice! You're getting it!" Lena praised.
"Thanks Lena." smiled Aqua.
Donald and Aqua then threw the blasts at another tree completely obliterating it.
"And you got good aim too." Lena mused.
"Thanks for teaching us." smiled Donald.
"Anytime Uncle Donald." Lena replied with a smile.
Just then, Goofy and Max ran by the three, giving Huey and Dewey piggyback rides.
"How's the view up there lookin'?" asked Goofy.
"I can see three magic users in the distance!" said Dewey.
"And I can see the town from here!" added Dewey.
Donald smiled fondly, remembering whenever he gave the boys such rides.
"Brings back memories, huh?" asked Aqua.
"It sure does." nodded Donald.
Just then, Lea came into the yard.
"Hey Aqua, Donald, Goofy, Max!" he called. "The Rescue Rangers detected another world in trouble."
Goofy and Max set Huey and Dewey down.
"Thanks Lea." said Max.
"See ya later!" said Goofy.
"Bye!" Huey, Dewey, and Lena called as the five ran for the Gummi hanger.
Huey turned to his brother and figurative sister.
"Let's find the others and play some soccer." he suggested.
"Sounds good to me." said Dewey.
"Count me in." nodded Lena.
And the three ran off.
Lanes-In-Between:
Soon, the Gummiship was sailing across the worlds towards its destination. Goofy drove with Sora in the co-pilot's seat and Kairi in the weapons seat.
Everyone else sat in the back, chatting. Except for Myde who was sleeping in his chair.
"How the heck is that guy always tired?" asked Oswald.
"He was always like that in the old Organization." said Roxas.
"He still was in the new one." added Isa.
"Why was he in the new Organization anyway?" asked Ortensia.
"To be one of the Seekers of Darkness." replied Isa. "But I convinced Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas to keep him as a reserve after Young Xehanort brought Riku Replica's heart from the past into a vessel to take his place."
"That was nice of you." smiled Oswald.
Isa shrugged with a small smile.
"It was awfully nice of Lena to teach you two new magic." Minnie said to the two mages.
"It was." nodded Aqua as she conjured up some purple magic. "It'll really come in handy during fights."
"It further proves that she isn't Magica at all." said Donald.
"Yeah, she's her own person like Roxas, Naminé, and Xion." added Daisy.
Just then, the radar beeped.
"We're approaching to our destination!" called Sora.
"Thanks Sora!" said Terra.
"Myde, wake up!" said Xion as she jostled Myde awake.
"W-W-Wha…?" he said groggily. "I was dreaming about ice cream…"
"You can dream about that later." said Isa. "We've arrived at our next world."
"Got it. Got it." Myde mumbled as he stretched his arms.
Everyone gazed at the new world as they approached it. It looked similar to Atlantica, but very different all the same. It looked like a stone city on an island completely surrounded by water.
"What's that place?" asked Terra.
"I've never seen that world before." said Sora.
"Me neither." said Roxas.
"It appears to be a new world." said Jiminy as he looked out the windshield.
"Looks a bit like Atlantica." Goofy commented.
"Yeah, a little bit." nodded Ven.
"Wonder what we'll find here." said Kairi.
"Only one way to find out." said Mickey as he pressed some buttons. "Care to do the honors Jiminy?" he asked the cricket.
Jiminy smiled. "Why of course!"
Jiminy hopped on a button and instantly, Sora and his beam were beamed down.
Atlantis:
20 beams of light came down from the sky. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Lea, Naminé, Xion, Isa, Ven, Aqua, Terra, Myde, Minnie, Daisy, Max, Oswald, and Ortensia found themselves on the metal deck of an enormous military ship that was sailing in the middle of the ocean.
"Whoa… this ship is huge!" exclaimed Sora.
"I've never seen a ship so big before." said Kairi.
"Me neither." said Mickey. "And I was a boat boy in my younger years."
"And I was a sailor." added Donald.
"And I thought the helicarrier was big." Ven remarked.
"Too bad that guy ahead of us isn't enjoying the boat ride as much as we are." Myde commented, pointing ahead of them.
"Whaddya mean Myde?" asked Minnie.
Myde pointed again and everyone saw a man in front of them. He wore a white shirt under a green trench coat, light green pants, longer tan pants underneath, brown shoes, a brown belt, a brown shoulder bag, wire-frame glasses… and looked a little green as he threw up over the side of the ship.
"Carrots… why is there always carrots? I didn't even eat carrots." the man groaned.
"Oh dear, the poor man's sea-sick." Minnie said softly.
Everyone approached the man.
"Are you ok sir?" asked Naminé.
The man jumped, startled, but still felt grateful for the distraction, turned and faced the 20 world-travelers, who all looked at him concerned.
"Oh yeah, uh, I-I'm fine. Just -*Urp!*" he replied before covering his mouth to stop himself from hurling. "Just not used to this right now." he managed to reply.
"First time out at sea?" asked Riku.
"Yeah, pretty much." the man nodded.
"Take our advice, you go out more often, you'll get used to it." said Sora.
"I'll keep that in mind." said the man.
"He sounds just like Marty." Goofy whispered to Donald, who nodded in agreement. (2)
"I'm not used to being out on the water." said the man. "Then again, this is my first expedition."
"There's an expedition going on?" Mickey asked curiously.
"Wait, is this your first expedition too?" the man asked.
Sora and Co. traded glances.
"Sorta… but yeah." said Sora.
"What's it all about?" asked Naminé.
The man smiled, depsi rte still feeling queasy in his stomach, and replied, "Me and everyone on this ship are searching for the lost city of Atlantis."
"Atlantis?" everyone asked.
"You mean the Lost Empire?" asked Oswald.
"That's the one." the man nodded.
"We've heard of that story back on the islands." Sora said to his friends. "They said Atlantis was lost to a flood and sank to the bottom of the ocean thousands of years ago."
"Sora's right." nodded Riku. "They also said that they had these giants that protected the city but failed thanks to the flood."
"Man you guys are sea-geeks." Lea chuckled.
"Many of us are." said Roxas.
Then Kairi remembered something as she turned to the eight toons. "Say, doesn't your world have it's open version of Atlantis too?" she asked.
"It does!" nodded Donald. "I should know, I was there."
"Wasn't that when Glomgold tricked you into working against Scrooge on the same day he was taking Launchpad and the kids to find the lost civilization?" asked Lea.
"Yeah." nodded Donald. "And we brought back it's heart while Glomgold got the cursed one."
Aqua turned to the man.
"How do we find the lost city?" she asked.
"Simple." the young man replied. He pulled out a book from his bag with a brown cover and held it up to everyone to see. "We'll be following the directions inscribed here in the Shepherd's Journal. It's to contain the route to Atlantis and it's exact whereabouts."
"My goodness that's incredible!" exclaimed Minnie.
Sora turned to his friends. "Think we should go with?" he asked.
"I think we should," said Max. "It would be awesome seeing Atlantis."
"I wonder how different it is from the one in our world." said Donald.
"Plus, there could be some Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed roaming around." added Goofy.
"I'm in." said Xion.
"Me too." said Riku.
"Sounds exciting." added Kairi.
"I can agree on that girlfriend." Daisy beamed.
Everyone else nodded.
"Oh this is gonna be so exciting!" Minnie squeaked happily.
They turned back to the man. "Is it ok if we come with?" asked Mickey.
"Sure, the more the merrier." the man replied. "My name's Milo Thatch. I'm a linguist."
"Nice to meet you Milo. I'm Sora" said Sora as he gestured to his friends. "This is Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, Lea, Ven, Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Isa, Myde, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Oswald, and Ortensia.:"
Everyone else waved hello.
"Quiet a crowd." Milo commented.
Just then, a loud voice boomed through the intercom.
"Attention. All hands to the launch bay. To whoever took 'L' from the Motor Pool sign: Ha ha, we are all very amused."
Sora, Roxas, Ven, Lea, Myde, Donald, Goofy, Max, Oswald, and even Mickey burst out laughing. Riku, Terra, and Isa chuckled while Kairi, Naminé, Xion, Aqua, Minnie, Daisy, and Ortensia giggled slightly.
"Now that is funny!" chortled Lea.
"We gotta remember that one." laughed Sora.
"Alright, let's get going." said Milo.
With that, the 21 made their way to a large open room with all kinds of trucks, cranes, and wielding machines.
"Would you look at all this?" Ven said in amazement.
"That is a lot of equipment," said Xion.
"Well for something as big as finding Atlantis, of course there would be a lot of stuff required for transportation." said Milo. "That and, you'll never know what you'll find down there."
"He's gotta point." said Ortnesia.
"What is a linguist?" asked Myde.
"Oh uh, well, my job is basically studying different languages." said Milo. "I speak a lot of them."
"That's impressive." said Terra.
"Yeah, including some ancient ones like Atlantian." said Milo.
Just then they noticed a figure standing in front of them near a truck with their back turned.
"Excuse me? Us, the us, twenty-one of us need to report in?" Milo asked.
"Yes Mr. Thatch?" the person asked, turning around to reveal a tall slender woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a green trench coat over a black outfit, brown gloves, and brown boots. She smirked at the linguist.
Milo cried out in alarm as he recognized the woman. "Aah! Uh, it's you!" he exclaimed.
"You know her?" asked Donald.
"She came to my apartment and told me about the person who financed this expedition.' Milo replied.
The woman nodded before she looked at them with a questioning expression. "And you all are?" she asked, reading an eyebrow.
"I'm Sora." said Sora.
"Riku." said Riku.
"Kairi." said Kairi.
"I'm Roxas." said Roxas.
"I'm Naminé." said Naminé.
"My name is Xion." said Xion.
"Isa." said Isa.
"Name's Lea. Got it memorized?" said Lea as he tapped the side of his head.
"My name's Mickey," said Mickey.
"I'm his wife Minnie." said Minnie.
"Donald." Donald said.
"I'm his fiancé, Daisy." said Daisy.
"I'm Goofy!" said Goofy.
"I'm Max. Goofy's my Dad." said Max.
"Oswald. Mickey's older half-brother." said Oswald.
"I'm Ortenisa. Oswald's my husband." said Ortiensia.
"Terra." said Terra.
"Ventus. But Ven is fine." said Ven.
"My name is Aqua." said Aqua.
"And I'm Myde!" Myde finished quickly.
"You're all quite the crowd." the woman mused. "My name is Lieutenant Helga Sinclair."
"Are you from the military?" asked Myde.
"I am a lieutenant." Helga reminded. "So are you all new recruits or something?"
"Uh, yeah, we-we are." Sora replied.
"Didn't expect the last minute help." Helga muttered. "Then again, you lot could be useful."
"We all do our best to help people." said Aqua.
Before Helga could continue, a voice snapped behind her.
"Blondie! I got a hold to pick with you!"
Everyone saw a crane lower down a wagon. On the back flap was a sign that red "Today's Special: Shut up an' eat!" It also had a sign below it that said "No seconds!" And in the wagon was a small elderly man with a whiet beard and eyebrows wearing a light grey shirt, blue overalls, brown shoes, and a brown hat with with red feather on it.
Helga sighed in irritation. "Hold those thoughts." she muttered to the 21 aas she walked up to the man. "What is it this time, Cookie?" she asked as she folded her arms.
"You done stuffed my wagon full to bustin' with non-essentials." Cookie replied as he brought over a wooden box and began throwing some stuff out. "Cinnamon… oregano… Cilantro? What in the cockaddole is cilantro?" he asked as he threw the box away.
Then he brought out a head of lettuce and to the dumbfoundment of everyone else, he asked, "And what is this?"
"That would be lettuce." Helga replied.
"Lettuce? Lettuce?!" Cookie asked in disbelief as he looked at it.
"He seriously doesn't know what lettuce is?" Max asked.
"Apparently." Isa replied.
Helga caught on too as she grabbed the lettuce and pointed out. "It's a vegetable, Cookie., The men need the four basic food groups."
Cookie frowned as he held up three fingers. "I got your four basic food groups!" He yelled as he counted them off. "Beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard!"
Sora, Milo, and Co. gazetted at each other, dumbfounded knowing that those weren't the four basic food groups.
"Ok…?" Roxxas said, puzzled.
Just then, a buzzing signal filled the air.
Helga shoved the lettuce into Cookie's chest which also shoved him back into his wagon as she called out, "All right cowboy, pack it up and move it out!"
"Attention. All hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress." the intercom voice sounded out.
"We'd better get going." said Milo.
"Lead the way Milo." said Naminé.
They passed Cookie who got up and greeted them saying, "Look forward to working with ya's."
"Thanks." said Sora. "Cookie, right?"
"Yeah, but my real name's Jedidiah Allardyce Farnsworth, though everyone calls me Cookie." he replied.
"Good to know." said Kairi as they walked away.
"He seems nice despite not knowing what food is." remarked Max.
"That's one way of putting it." said Lea.
"So you've already met Helga?" asked Ven.
"Yeah." nodded Milo. "Like I said, she came to my apartment and then took me to an old friend of my grandpa. His name's Mr. Whitmore. He was the one who gave me the journal. It actually came from my grandfather during a previous expedition and then he gave it to Mr. Whitmore before he died to give it to me."
"Guess that means your grandpa was an explorer, right?" asked Myde.
"He sure was." nodded Milo.
"Reminds me of Uncle Scrooge." mused Donald.
Soon, the 21 of them were surrounded by other military men on a large elevator, the platform slowly descending down.
As soon as the elevator came to a halt, the group spotted a very large, brown painted, metallic submarine in the middle of the room, containing a large round-like shaped cockpit with orange windows on the front. The name Ulysses was written on the side. Workers and vehicles were all over the place.
"WHOA!" everyone exclaimed in awe.
"Look at that!" said Xion.
"That is the biggest submarine I've ever seen." said Aqua.
"It's even bigger than the sub Uncle Scrooge owns." added Daisy.
"Now that is an awesome right." said Lea, impressed.
"You got that right." nodded Sora.
"Again, I thought the helicarrier was big," said Ven.
"We'd better hop on," said Mickey.
With that said, the group walked across the submarine's entry deck.
Just then, someone accidentally rammed into the back of Sora, Milo, Riku, and Terra. They turned around and saw a tall slender man around Terra's height with blacj flat-topped hair, a twitch moustache grey gloved, a black shirt, a metal shield strapped over his front and back, green pants, and black boots.
"Hey, if you kids an' ladies are lookin' for the pony rides, they're back there." the man said in an Italian accent.
As he walked past with his cart, Milo picked up a red cylinder with a piece of blakc rope sticking out on top and called out to the Italian man, "Excuse me. Excuse me? You dropped you…"
Milo trailed off as he and the world-travelers immediately realized that the object was an explosive, one that Myde recognized and pointed with a sjay finger in wreaning saying, "...Dy-dy-dy-dynamite…"
The man came back and accepted the dynamite.
"Out of curiosity, what else you got in there?" asked Oswald.
"Oh, eh, gunpower, nitroglycerin, notepads… duses, wicks, glue, and… paperclips, Big ones." he shrugged. "You know, just, uh, office supplies."
"Ok then." Riku muttered, him and his friends weren't sure what to make of the complicated explanation.
"Well, nice meeting your Mr…" began Kairi before trailing off.
"Vincenzo Santorini, Vinny for short." the man replied as he walked away. "Nice meeting you too."
"He sounds like a priest." Xion said off-handedly.
Just then, a voice called out, "Milo! Where've you been?"
Everyone turned and saw two men walk up. The one who had talked was a medium-height elderly man with whiet hair and beard dressed in a blue tailors uniform and hat holding a brown cane. The other was a tall muscular man with grey hair, brown eyes, and recessed in an oliver green soldier uniform.
"Mr. Whitmore." Milo greeted as he and Sora's team approached.
"Well now, what do we have here?" Mr. Whitmore asked as he looked at Sora and Co., while also glancing at their unique clothing.
"I'm Sora." said Sora before he introduced his team.
"Oh so you're the new recruits Helga told me about," said Whitmore.
"That's us!" nodded Goofy.
"Preston B. Whitmore, founder of this here expedition." whitmroe said before gesturing to the taller man. "And Milo, I'd like you to meet Commander Rourke. He led the team that brought the journal back from Iceland."
"Milo Thatch. Pleasure to meet the grandson of old Thaddeus." Rourke greeted as he shook Milo's hand. "I see you got that journal. Nice pictures, but… I prefer a good western myself, and it's a pleasure to meet you all as well. Don't know how he did it, but Whitmroe hired the best of the best."
"Likewise Commander." said Isa.
"Boy, when you settle a bet, y-you settle a bet." Milo said to Whitmroe with a smile.
Whitmore smiled back. "Well your granddad always believed you couldn't put a price on the pursuit of knowledge."
"Well, uh, believe me this'll be a small change compared to the value of what we're gonna learn on this trip." Milo replied.
"Yeah, Atlantis will be a sight to see." said Sora.
"Yes, it should be enriching for all of us." Rourke reflected, getting suspicious looks from some of the worldly-travelers.
"Say Milo, you and Rourke head up to the submarine. I'd like to fill in our new recruits on some important stuff." said Whitmroe.
"Of course Mr. Whitmore." nodded Milo.
"Sure thing Whitmore." said Rourke as the two walked away.
"Follow me." Whitmore said to the 20 Keyblade Masters.
Shrugging, they did so. They walked to an area that wasn't crowded with soldiers.
"So what would you like to tell us Mr. Whitmore?" asked Aqua.
Whitmore looked around to make sure no one was looking before he looked back at Sora and Co.
"First of all… I know you're from other worlds." he said with a smirk.
Sora and Co. gasped and sputtered in shock. They weren't expecting that.
"What?!" Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ven, Roxas, Lea, Myde, Donald, Goofy, and Max exclaimed.
"Uh, n-no we're not!" Mickey said quickly.
"Other worlds? No way!" Oswald said dismissively.
"W-We're just from someplace far away!" said Xion.
Whitmore chuckled. "Relax you lot. I know about the other worlds. And don't worry, I've kept it quiet from everyone else." he explained.
Sora and Co. relaxed a little.
"Ok… so what made you realize that we weren't from this world?" asked Terra.
"You're clothes for one." Whitmroe replied. "They're not the kind of flashy stuff you'd see around here, especially during these years."
"Huh. I guess that makes sense." shrugged Diays.
"Wait, what year is it?" Minnie asked curiously.
"1914." Whitmore replied. "Currently, we're kind of in the middle of a war."
Sora and his team's eyes widened. Some of them had learned about the World Wars in school and from each other.
Whittmore chuckled again. "Don't worry. We haven't been attacked." he assured them.
"Well that's good." said Naminé.
"How did you find out about the worlds anyway?" asked Lea.
"Me and Milo's grandfather, Thaddeus Thatch, knew, or know in my case, a man from another world." said Whitmore. "His name was Ansem the Wise."
Everyone's eyes widened again.
"Ansem the Wise?!" they all exclaimed.
"I take it you've heard of him?" asked Whitmore.
"He's an old friend of some of us." said Mickey.
"And me and Isa come from the town he rules over." added Lea.
"I was from there originally before I ended up on the Islands." added Kairi.
"Interesting." mused Whitmore. "Anyway, he needed a place to stay one night. And on that night, Thaddeus just so happened to be there. We welcomed him in and eventually, we gained his trust about his knowledge of the other worlds."
"Well that's nice to hear." said Kairi. "Is that all you wanted to tell us?"
"Not just that." said Whitmore. "I thought I should tell you why this is happening."
"What's the story?" asked Sora as everyone looked interested.
"For years, Thaddeus bent me with stories about that old book, the Shepherd's Journal." said Whitmore. "I didn't buy it for a minute. So finally, I got fed up and I made a bet with the old coot."
"Was is the same bet Milo mentioned?" asked Myde.
"Sure was!" Whitmore replied. "Anyway, I said 'Thatch, if you ever actually find that so-called journal, not only will I finance the expedition, but I will kiss you full on the mouth.'"
Whitmore then pulled out a plack and white photo of him and someone who looked like an older Milo with white hair and a long beard wearing explorer clothes while holding the Shepherd's journal. Whitmroe was wiping his mouth with his sleeve and the other man, Thaddeus, was spitting in disgust.
"You can imagine my embarrassment when he found the darn thing." Whitmore chuckled.
Sora, Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Oswald, Max, Myde, Ven, and Roxas chuckled, Terra, Lea, and Isa smirked, and Kairi, Naminé, Xion, Aqua, Minnie, Daisy, and Ortensia giggled.
Whitmore chuckled as he set the picture back into his suit before sighing.
"Thaddeus Thatch was a great man. If he were still alive today, you guys would've loved to meet him." Whitmroes Sighed before he looked angry. "Those buffonss and the museum dragged him down and made a laughing stock out of him. He died a broken man."
Everyone looked at Mr. Whitmore in sympathy.
"That must've been hard for you and Milo." said Aqua.
"We're sorry." Sora said softly.
Whitmore smiled.
"If I could just bring back one shred of proof… that'd be enough for me."
"With that journal in Milo's grasp, we know we can." said Lea.
"Indeed." nodded Whitmore. "Anyways, now that you know, I hope you'll have a good time on the expedition."
"I'm sure we will." said Sora as they nodded in agreement.
"Attention, all personnel. Launch will commence in 15 minutes." the voice in the intercom spoke once more.
"Guess that's our cue." sais Aqua.
"Yep. Better get goin'." said Whitmore.
With that, Sora and his team walked up the ramp and into the sub where Milo was waiting for them.
"Bye Mr. Whitmore!" Milo called.
"Make us proud, boy!" Whitmore called as a giant iron door came down to seal off the entrance.
Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Lea, Xion, Naminé, Isa, Myde, Ven, Aqua, Terra, Minnie, Daisy, Max, Oswald, Ortenisa, and Milo quickly ran to the cockpit. Several walkways and platforms were scattered about the room with various people waking about.
On a higher platform, Roukre commanded to Helda with him, "Lieutenant, take her down."
Nodding, Helga said, "Diving officers, submerge the ship. Make the depth 1-5-0 feet."
The message spread around the ship. A warning siren started to beep. The group realized that it was meant for anyone outside to be a safe distance away. Sora, Milo, and Co. saw Whitmore watching them from the outside through the orange window.
A final warning bell sounded out as the cranes holding the submarine dropped it into the water through an open hatch. They caught one more glimpse at Whitmore, who was giving a thumbs up, as the submarine went completely underwater. Though if they had been behind him, they would've noticed that his fingers were crossed on his other hand behind his back.
Within seconds, the Ulysses was descending into the depths of the ocean sea.
Despite the fact everyone had ridden in Scrooge's submarine before, it was an amazing experience for Sora and his team to watch the entire thing from a giant window as they sailed away.
"Wow… this is so beautiful." said Kairi.
"This is truly remarkable." Minnie said in agreement.
"It's the start of another adventure." said Sora with a fond smile.
And everyone agreed.
Later, the 21 were making their way to their rooms.
"So where are you guys from?" asked Milo.
"A bunch of different places." Sora replied.
"We travel around a lot." said Kairi.
"So what do you do?" asked Milo.
"We help people in danger of the darkness." said Riku. "We protect them from dangerous creatures."
"What kind?" asked Milo.
As if on cue, several Shadow Heartless appeared in the hall.
"GAH! WHAT ARE THEY?!" Milo cried out in alarm.
"We got this." said Sora.
Sora, Riku, and Kairi summoned Kingdom Key, Braveheart, and Destiny's Embrace and quickly slashed all the Heartless away.
"That was easy." Myde remarked.
"Though it usually gets harder as we go along." Terra pointed out.
Milo was amazed. "How did you do that? What are those weapons?" he asked.
"They're called Keyblades." Sora said as he showed Milo Kingdom Key. "They're a special kind of sword that can be used by beings with pure hearts, whether they're good or evil."
"Wow…" said Milo. "Do all of you have those?"
To answer his question, everyone else summoned their signature Keyblades.
"Whoa… are you all magic?" Milo asked in awe.
"In some ways, yes." siad Lea.
"I'm a mage." said Donald.
"Wow. Now that is amazing." said Milo, impressed.
"Thank you Milo." Mickey smiled as they all dismissed their weapons.
Then, Milo spotted an open room and looked at the number.
"Oh, this is my room." he said as he walked inside.
Everyone followed and saw that the room had two sets of bunk beds (the bottom bunk on one actually being a desk), a sink, and an upper shelf.
"This looks cozy." said Naminé.
"I wonder if all of our rooms are like this." Xion wondered out loud.
"Attention. Tonight's supper will be baked beans, musical program to follow... Who wrote this?" came the voice, ending in a confused manner.
Milo took off his coat and tossed it to the side and hung his bag on a hook as he laid down on the bottom bunk.
"How's the bed?" asked Donald.
"Pretty comfy." Milo replied as he got out. "You gotta try it."
"That's ok Milo-" began Aqua.
"It's ok, I insist." Milo said kindly.
Shrugging, one by one Sora and his crew took turns lying down on the bed and did feel comfy as they got up.
"You're right. It is pretty comfy." said Myde as he got off.
"I hope all our beds are like that." said Donald.
Just then, underneath a blanket came a set of eyes., And then, a flashlight turned on, starting everyone.
"What the-?!" exclaimed Lea.
"You have distubed the dirt…" came a voice.
Everyone was confused.
"Uh, pardon me?" Milo asked in confusion.
"You have distrubed the dirt!" it said as coming out from under the blanket onto the floor was a short round man in a grey coat with brown collars, dark grey fingerless gloves, a helmet with odd giggles and a light coming out of it, black pants, and brown shoes.
"Dirt from around the globe spanning the centuries!" the man said in a French accent as he took off the top blanket to reveal small piles of different kinds of dirt with mini flags on them, much to everyone's surprise and bemusement.
The man gasped as he looked at a pile. "What have you done?! England must never merge with France!" he exclaimed as a dust pan and mini broom emerged from his helmet and sorted out a mixed pile of dirt into two separate ones.
"Ok then…" said Riku as everyone was confused and a bit freaked out by the man.
"What's it doing in my bed?!" Milo demanded.
The man glared at Milo. "You ask too many questions!" he said as he looked at everyone. "Who are all of you? Who sent you? Speak up!" he demanded.
"Me? I'm uh-" began Milo.
"Bleh! I will know soon enough!" the man said as he grabbed Milo's wrist with one hand and a pair of tweezers with another.
"Hey, hey, let go!" Milo exclaimed.
"Do not be such a cry baby! Hold still!" the man said as he used the tweezers to pull out a speck of dirt from under Milo's fingernail. "A ha! There you are! Now tell me your story my little friend…" the man beamed as he turned on hsi light and extended his goggles to study the speck closer.
"What is he doing?" Myde asked, completely confused.
"Trying to figure out who Milo is for himself… I think." said Mickey, who was as confused as his friends.
"Parchment fiber from the Nile Delta circa 500 B.C., lead pencil No. 2, paint flecks of a type used in government buildings, you have a cat, short hair Persian, two years old, third in a liter of seven." the man said as he looked at the particles in the dirt.
"He got all that from that speck of dirt?" Roxas asked, confused and a bit amazed.
"Must be some kind of dirt expert." shrugged Oswald.
"These are all the microscopic fingerprints of the mapmaker." the man said before tasting the dust. "And… linguist…" he said in disgust as he narrowed his eyes at Milo.
"Hey, how did you-?" Milo began before the man shoved Milo's began into his hands and then his coat over his head.
"This is an outrage!" the man exclaimed before he started shoving Milo, Sora, and Co. out of the room in random groups. "You all must leave at once! Out out out out OUT!" he screamed.
Then, they all bumped into a man walking in. He was bald with tanned skin wearing a towel around his neck, tan pants with grey suspenders and black shoes.
"Uh oh. Sat in the dirt didn't you?" the man asked with a knowing smirk.,
"Uh… kinda." Daisy said with a sheepish smile.
The taller man frowned at the shorter man as he crossed his arms.
"Molière, now what have I told you about playing nice with the older kids?" the man scolded.
Before Molière could reply, the taller man brought out a bar of soap.
"Get back. I got soap. And I'm not afraid to use it!" the man said with a smirk.
Molière hissed at the soap and turned around before the taller man whipped his butt with his towel.
"Back vile creature! Back to the pit from whence you came!" the man said as Molière crawled back into his bunk.
"Wow, you sure showed him." chuckled Lea.
"Thank you." the man replied.
"Who was that guy?" asked Sora.
"Gaetan Molière. Mole for short." the man replied. "He's a digging expert."
"Huh, so I was close." shrugged Oswald.
"And who are you?" asked Riku.
"The name's Sweet. Joshua Sweet. Medical officer." the man replied as he shook allt heir hands.
"Milo Thatch." said Milo.
"And I'm Sora." said Sora. "This is Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Lea, Isa, Terra, Ven, Aqua, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Oswald, Ortensia, and Myde." he added as he gestured to his friends who all waved in hello.
"Nice to meet you all." said Sweet as he put on a white doctor's coat. "And Milo, you're my 3:00. And the rest of you are after him from 3:10 to 6:20." he added as he suddenly pulled out a large saw from his medical bag, starling them all. "Well, no time like the present."
"Oh boy…" Milo mumbled.
"Uh… nice saw…" Ven said awkwardly.
"Nice, isn't it?" asked Sweet. "The catalog says this little beauty can saw through a femur in 28 seconds. I'm betting I can cut that time in half."
"Sounds… nice…" said Max.
Sweet put the saw away and then pulled out a popsicle stick.
"Now stick out your tongue and saw 'Ah.'" he told Milo.
"Oh no really I-" Milo began before Sweet put the stick on his tongue and checked his mouth.
"So where're you all from?" he asked.
"Uh… me and my friends aren't from around here." said Sora, his friends nodding in agreement.
"I see." said Sweet. "And you Milo?"
Milo tried to reply but his reply sounded odd. Yet Sweet understood.
"Really? I have family up that way. Beautiful country up there." Sweet said as he put a thermometer in Milo's mouth and then listened to Milo's heartbeat. "You do any fishing?" he asked.
"Sometimes." Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy said at once.
Milo made a reply that sound like "Not really."
"Me? I hate fishing. I hate fish." Sweet said with a frown. "Hate the taste, hate the smell, hate all their little bones." he said as he placed another stick against Milo and then chekd a gold pocket watch.
"Reminds me of Della's hatred of fish." Donald whispered to his friends. (4)
As they nodded in agreement, Sweet set out large glass beakers on the desk and turned to the 21.
"Ok, now each of you grab one beaker 'casue I'm gonna need you to fill them up one each." Sweet told them.
Milo spat the thermometer out in shock as Sora and his team gapped in shock.
"With what?!" Milo exclaimed.
"Are you serious?!" exclaimed Sora.
"You gotta be kidding me!" exclaimed RFiku.
"Oh boy…" mumbled Mickey.
Minnie, Daisy, Ortensia, Aqua, Kairi, Naminé, and Xion blushed.
"Will Milo Thatch and the 20 new recruits please report to the bridge?" the voice sounded out over the intercom.
Sora, Milo, and Co. sighed in relief as they walked out, waving goodbye to Sweet.
"Nice meeting you Dr. Sweet." said Sora.
"Uh huh. Nice meeting you too.' Sweet called back as Mole walked up beside him.
The bridge:
Sora, Milo, Kairi, Riku, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Roxas, Lea, Isa, Xion, Naminé, Myde, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Max, oswald, and Ortensia made their way down to the bridge. Many other people were down there including Rourke, Helga, Vinny, Sweet.
"This is a nice area." said Sora.
"Very big." added Riku.
"One of the biggest ever built."
They looked and saw a girl who looked like a young engineer. She had black hair, a sky blue cap, a white undershirt, blue overalls, and black boots.
"We can see that." said Kairi. "Who are you?"
"Name's Audrey. Audrey Ramirez." she replied in a Spanish accent. "I'm an engineer on this expedition."
"So you're like a mechanic?" asked Ven.
"You could say that." Audrey replied.
Up in the navigation section, an elderly woman with grey hair tied into a ponytail wearing a green shirt and dark green pants was talking to someone on an old-fashioned headset as she smoked a cigarette.
"So I says to him, 'What's wrong with my meatloaf?' and he says to me-" The woman was cut off when a green light turned on over one of the wireless communication machines. "Hold on Margie, I got another call." she said to the person on the other line before flipping a switch. "Sir, we're approaching coordinates." she said to Rourke before turning back to her call. "Hello Margie? Yes so anyway he says…"
"Who's that?" asked Sora.
"Wilhelmina Packard" Sweet replied. "She's our navigator and radio operator."
"Alright." said Rourke after hearing what Packard siad. "Let's have a look around.
"Aye sir, set course to 2-4-0. 15 degrees down angle. Come right on the bow planes. Come right 2-4-." said Helga.
Rourke turned to Sora's team. "Welcome to the bridge." he said as he gestured to some of the crew members. "Please stand with the others."
"Yes Commander." said Mickey and they obliged.
As soon as they joined the others, Rourke spoke up.
"OK everybody, I want you to give Mr. Thatch... your undivided attention." he told the crew.
Milo timidly approached a projector and turned to face everyone.
"Good afternoon," Milo said anxiously as he started to fidget with his shirt collar. "C-Can everyone hear me ok?"
The eerie silence that quickly followed along with Audrey popping some red bubblegum answered his question.
Milo hesitated a moment before asking, "H-How about some slides?"
Vinny and Audrey traded glances.
"This should be interesting," said Lea.
"Wonder what he's got." said Roxas.
Milo turned on the projector and pulled out a single slide from a box sitting beside it.
"T-The first slide is a deception of a creature," he continued. "A creature so frightening that sailors were said to be driven mad by the mere side of it!"
Sora, Ven, Roxas, Kairi, Xion, Naminé, Myde, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Daisy began to feel uneasy as Milo instretd the slide into the projector. Then, to their and everyone else's astonishment and sudden amusement, the slide contained a black-and-white snapshot of Milo in a striped swimsuit and the beach waving. He was wearing an inflatable dinosaur floatie, holding a fishing pole with a fish at the end, water wings, and goggles. Beside him was a cat reaching for the fish with its front legs crossed and its mouth open in a friendly snarl.
"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Myde burst out laughing as he held his stomach, unable to hold in his amusement.
Everyone then followed suit laughing their heads off.
"Hubba hubba." Packard said sarcastically.
"Oh yeah! Very frightening!" Donald quacked with laughter.
"Nice picture Milo!" laughed Goofy, giving his signature chuckle.
"Oh gosh, sorry Milo!" Mickey laughed.
"That is just too funny!" Daisy giggled.
Lea facepalmed himself while snickering in amusement. "Hehehehehehehehe!" he chortled.
"Uh, I'm sorry." Milo shyly reflected as he rapidly removed the sidle. "That's… wrong…"
"Geez. I used to take lunch money from guys like this." Audrey said to Vinny, making him snort in amusement.
Soon, the laugher died down.
"Apologies Milo." Minnie said as she calmed herself. "Go on."
"R-Right, Thanks." Milo nodded as he inserted the next slide.
It was a drawing of an enormous lobster-shaped creature attacking a ship. The sight of it made Sora, Donald, Goofy, Ven, Roxas, and Xion nervous as they remembered the Kraken back in The Carribean. Mickey and Minnie gulped nervously at the sight of it. Myde fearfully slinked behind Lea, who raised an eyebrow and the mullet-haired man skeptically.
"OK. Not this is an illustration of the Leviathan - the creature said to be guarding the entrance to Atlantis." Milo explained.
"With something like that, I would have white wine I think." Vinny remarked to Audrey.
"Uh… it doesn't eat people, does it?" Myde asked scaredly.
"I don't think so. It's a mythical sea serpent." Milo replied before continuing. "He's described in the Book of job. T-the Bible says, 'Out of his mouth go burning lights, spark of fire shoot out.'" he said before waving his hand dismissively. "But more than likely, it's a carving, or a-a sculpture to frighten the superstitious."
Mickey, Minnie, and Myde sighed in relief.
"Thank god." Sora sighed. "Dealing with one mythical sea creature of evil was enough for me."
"Me too!" said Donald.
"Me three!" said Goofy.
"You mean the Kraken?" asked Riku, remembering the story.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded in unison.
"Was it that bad?" asked Terra.
"Very bad." nodded Roxas.
"That would also make them turn back if it is a sculpture, right?" asked Ortensia.
"Probably." said Milo.
"So where do we go after we find it?" asked Ven.
"When do we dig?" Mole blurted out in an excited manner.
Milo flipped off the slide projector and picked up a marker from the white board.
"Actually, we don't have to dig." he informed the expedition as he began to draw. "See, according to the horunal, the path to Atlantis will take us down a tunnel at the bottom of the ocean."
"Then what?" asked Oswald.
Milo drew a bubble-shaped object on the board and pointed at it. "Then we'll curve into an air pocket right here, where we'll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis. Kind of the like grease trap in your sink." he explained.
"Cartographer, linguist, plumber," Helga mused as she twirled her gun. "Hard to believe he's still single." she said to Rourke.
Mole tugged Helga's arm.
"You said there would be digging!" he whispered furiously.
"Go away, Mole." said Helga, waving him away in annoyance.
"Man, Milo sure is a busy guy." commented Myde.
"Only 'cause you're lazy most of the time." Lea pointed out. "Though you are good at fighting."
"Alright, class dismissed!" Rourke called out as he walked over to a sailor.
"Wonder what's up." said Naminé.
"Let's go check it out." said Terra.
Sora quickly followed Milo to the railing near the sailor. The rest of the group peered over the railing into the deep, darkness of the ocean beyond the windows.
"Gosh, quiet dark out there." said Mickey.
"We're in the deeper parts of the ocean little bro." said Oswald.
"Still, very dark and a bit eerie." Aqua commented, looking a little nervous as she remembered the dark waters in the Dark World. She calmed down a bit when terra wrapped an arm around her shoulders with a comforting smile.
"Give me exterior lights." Roruke ordered.
Everyone gazed out the window as a pair of searchlights flipped on and started revealing the landscape of towering rock formations resembling columns reaching for a ceiling to setady. But it wasn't that that caught everyone's attention. What did catch their eyes was scattered around the rocks.
The entire sea floor was covered by countless broken pieces off wood and metal of many sunken ships.
"Oh my god!" gasped Sora.
"Holy shit!" gasped Terra.
"Good god…" gasped Roxas.
"Quackers!" gasped Daisy.
"What the hell?" Isa said in horror.
"Look at that!" Helga muttere, just as stunned and slightly horrified.
Milo readjusted his eyeglasses before he added, "There're ships here from every era!"
"Son of a bitch…" Riku said in shock.
"Oh god…" mumbled Naminé.
"Holy Shiva…" Myde said, stunned.
"There must be millions!" Sora exclaimed in a soft voice.
"Holy cow…" Mickey muttered, wide eyed. "I wonder what could've caused all of this."
"There's no way a storm caused all of this… r-right?" Minnie asked nervously.
"If it was… then it was the biggest hurricane in history." said Lea.
Then, Kairi and Minnie spotted something out of the corners of their eyes. They turned around in alarm and for a split second, the two girls thought they saw the large black rock on the seabed before it disappeared underneath the submarine before they could look at it.
"Did you see that?" Kairi asked nervously.
"I think so… but I'm wishing I didn't." Minnie squeaked nervously.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Packard had put out her cigarette and flipped a switch. Then, she heard something come through her headphones. Packard turned it up and adjusted the headphones so she could hear it better. Something wasn't right.
"Commander, I think you should hear this." she said to Rourke.
But Roukre was watching Milo read from the journal.
"So… where are we exactly?" asked Donald.
"'Pre-desh-tem… loe-ta-nug… na-gehpt…'" Milo read in gibberish.
"Commander? Commander?" Packard called out.
"What does that mean?" asked Sora as he and his teammates as well as Rourke and Helga were puzzled.
Milo pointed to the section of the journal he was reading and translated, "'Enter the lair of the Leviathan, there you will find the path to the gateway.'"
"Commander?" Packard said again.
"Nice job Milo." said Mickey, impressed.
"Yeah, that's amazing." Aqua said in agreement.
"Commander?" Packard said again.
Rourke rolled his eyes. "Yes Mrs. Packard, what is it?" he asked as he turned to her.
"I'm picking up something on the hydrophone I think you should hear." Packard said as she held the headset with one hand and made some adjustments on the communications with the other.
"Put it on speakers." said Rourke.
Packard flipped a switch.
Then, the entiere cockpit was almost complete with silence. But what broke it was a loud, water-infested roar coming through the speakers all around the room.
"Donald… was that your stomach?" Daisy asked, scared.
"I don't think so." Donald replied, just as scared as his girlfriend.
"Something's out there." said Terra, uneasily.
"I hope it's just a giant Heartless." Goofy said nervously.
"That's a first." Myde quipped, but still feeling shaky.
Kairi and Minnie traded nervous glances as they looked over at their friends.
"Guys… I'm not sure if it was our imagination… but we saw something move outside a little while ago." Kairi said nervously.
"Like what?" asked Mickey, nervous.
"Something big…" Minnie replied.
"I think you might be right." Ortensia said nervously.
Rourke and Helga approached the communication station.
"What is it? A pod of whales?" asked Rourke.
Packard shook her head. "Uh-uh. Bigger." she replied.
"It sounds metallic." Helga commented as she reached for the dials on the communication device. "Could be an echo off one of the rocks."
Packard glared up at the lieutenant. "You wanna do my jbo? Be my guest."
"Is it just me or is it getting louder?" asked Milo.
"Kinds does, actually." said Max.
"I really hope it's not a giant octopus or something more deadly." Ven said nervously.
"Me too." said Xion.
Then, to everyone's relief, the echoing faded.
After a moment, Helga shrugged. "Well, whatever it was, it's gone now."
"Well… at least it wasn't a Heartless." Oswald said with a weak grin.
"Somehow, that doesn't make me feel better." said Isa.
"Me neither." said Naminé. Something was happening outside the submarine. Something big… and dangerous…
Rourke turned up to the steering sailor.
"Helmsman. Bring us about." he instructed. "Tighten our search pattern and slow us-"
Suddenly a violent movement threw everyone off their feet.
"Whoa! What the hell was that?!" Sora screamed.
"Something bad!" Myde cried.
Down in the boiler room, eneginers were pancinging as Audrey ran past them.
"Out of the way!" she exclaimed as she struggled to get to the other side.
Donald, Goofy, and Myde grabbed onto the railing and gazed out the window. They immediately regretted doing so as they saw something huge swim by and attack the submarine and everyone else in it.
"Aw phooey…" Donald mumbled in terror, his eyes wide.
"...If that's the Leviathan… then we're done for!" Myde screamed.
"Kairi and Minnie were right! They did see something!" Goofy screamed in terror.
The creature then bashed the sub with its arm, sending it flying.
In the boiler room, Audrey stood on a bridge as she watched the other engineers scream and run in a panic as red emergency lights blared. Then to her horror, Audrey saw water coming in.
Back on the bridge, everyone stared out the window. They could all see a giant creature swimming in the deep dark sea a short distance away. It was a huge, metallic-looking lobster with glowing dark-red eyes.
"OH MY GOD!" Daisy screamed.
"What the hell is that thing?!" cried Naminé.
"Myde was right! It's the Leviathan!" Donald quacked in terror.
"I knew it was huge, but I didn't think it was that ginormous!" exclaimed Riku, eyes widened in horror.
Rourke turned to Helga and pointed at the monster ordering sarcastically, "Tell Cookie to melt the butter and bring out the bibs! I want this lobster served on a silver platter!"
"Load the torpedo bases! Sub-pod crews - battle station!" Helgaorderd to the crew just as another violent tremor shook the ship.
As Sora and his team got on their feet, Mickey shouted, "Half of you go to the sub-pods!"
"Right!" shouted Riku as he, Terra, Lea, Isa, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Aqua, and Xion ran to join a bunch of other crew members, including Mole and Vinny, into al long room and two each got into a sub-pod.
"Steady boys. Don't panic!" Rourke said over the radio.
Riku and Terra got in one, Donald and Daisy in another, Goofy and Max in one as well, Lea and Isa in another, and Aqua and Xion in another as well.
Just as the doors to the sub-pods closed, the Leviathan grabbed the submarine with it's smaller left clae. It violently yanked the Ulyssus towards its face.
The resulting yank threw Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Minnie, and Milo over the railing as they landed on the orange window. The Keyblade Masters screamed in fright at what they saw. Directly through the window was one of the monster's glaring red eyes.
"OH MY GOD!" Minnie and Kairi screamed.
"Jiminy Christmas! It's a machine!" Milo exclaimed in shock, making Roxas, Naminé, Myde, Ven, Oswald, and Ortensia's hearts race in terror.
"That thing is way bigger that the Kraken!" Sora shrieked.
Roxas, Naminé, Ven, Myde, Oswald, and Ortensia helped Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Minnie, and Milo back up to the railing as Roukre shouted, "Launch sub-pods!"
Down below, Audrey turned a wheel that shut the door as other engineers ran in a pancic from the water pouring in.
Outside, the sub-pods launched away. The 10 world travelers in the 5 followed the rest. They turned around to face the Leviathan.
"Fire!" Roukre shouted through the radio system.
Lea, Riku, Daisy, Max, and Aqua did so as they and the others pressed the buttons on the firing stick-joints and underwater missiles headed for the creature. Almost all of them struck it in the face, making it release the Ulysses.
Inside, Rourke saw the Leviathan let them go.
"We're free. All ahead full!" Roruke ordered.
Back underwater, everyone in the subpods tried to steer away from the monster after the submarine.
Max then spotted a giant claw heading his and Goofys' way.
"DAD LOOK OUT!" Max shouted.
Goofy did so and steered them away from the claw before it could crush them.
"Thanks son!" Goofy said.
But to their horror, the claw struck two other subs. Goofy and Max froze, thinking that that could've been either Riku & Terra, Lea & Isa, Donald & Daisy, or Xion & Aqua.
"Fire torpedoes!" Rourke ordered.
Torpedoes fired at the Leviathan, striking it numerous times.
Suddenly, the monster glared at the sub and fired a laser-like beam from its mouth, straight past the sub-pods and struck the Ulysses' side. To make matters worse, irt struck a rock formation beyond it!
"NO!" Riku, Xion, Aqua, Terra, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Max screamed in terror, worried for their friends' safety.
The laser striking the submarine caused several rivets to pop out. Audrey covered herself with a piece of metal as she ran up the ladder. Two engineers helped her up.
"Get me the bridge!" Audrey shouted.
In the cockpit, everyone was terrified out of their minds. They were under attack, the submarine had been struck, and two sub-pods were destroyed. Sora, Roxas, Ven, Naminé, Myde, Mickey, Minnie, Oswald, and Ortensia were worried for their friends.
"Sir, it's Engineering on Four," Packard said to Rourke as she calmly sat reading a CRIME magazine.
Rourke switched to line four, hearing Audrey's voice shout making hm wince a bit.
"ROURKE! We took a big hit down here and we're taking on water fast! I don't want to be near it when it hits the builders!" Audrey shouted to everyone's horror.
"Oh no!" gasped Minnie.
"Oh god!" gasped Mickey.
"We're screwed!" cried Myde.
"How much time do we have?" asked Rourke.
"20 minutes if the bulkhead holds." Audrey replied before adding. "You better make that 5."
Rourke turned to everyone and yelled. "You all heard the lady, move out!"
"Move?! Move where?!" Milo exclaimed as everyone began to run out of the room.
"Packard, sound the alarm!" Helhga ordered.
"So he took his suitcase? Marge, honey, I don't think he's coming back." Packard said to her friend over the headset while smoking another cigarette.
"PACKARD!" yelled Helga.
This time, she heard her.
"I have to call you back. No, no, I'll call you." Packard said as she put out her cigarette before saying over the intercom, "All hands. Abandon ship." before getting up to leave.
Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Naminé, Ven, Myde, Mickey, Minnie, Oswald, and Ortensia followed Milo, Rourke, Helga, and Sweet across the catwalk, reaching up with Audrey while trying to keep their balance as the sub moved from the ocean's movements.
"Move it people! Sometime today would be nice!" Helga shouted as they ran over to a smaller submarine and went down the hatch.
Soon, they were all in as Helga closed the hatch and came down shouting, "Come on! Everybody grab a seat buckle!"
Everyone immediately obliged.
Helga joined Rourke in the cockpit as she sat in the pilot's seat.
"Lieutenant, get us out of here!" Rourke ordered.
Helga kicked a control lever, but nothing happened,.
"Lieutenant!" Rourke impatiently shouted.
"I'M WORKING ON IT!" Helga yelled.
A violet tremor shook the room. Helga took advantage of this to kick the control lever with all her might, The lever loved and the exit hatch before them blow off. As she stressed the Aqua-Evac, Helga called out, "Hang on!"
The ten in the sub-pods outside didn't know that their friends had escaped as they watched in horror as the Leviathan destroyed the Ulysses. To make matters worse, a few more sub-pods were destroyed. They could only hope that their friends were ok.
Kairi, Naminé, Minnie, and Ortensia, buried thief faces into the shoulders of Sora, Roxas, Mickey, and Oswald, making them huig back as Ven and Myde held on in fear. They also feared that their friends in the sub-pods were killed.
Immediately afterwards, Rourke turned to Milo asking, "Where to, Mr. Thatch?"
Milo clung onto the journal as he replied. "We're looking for a crevice of some kind!"
Everyone looked out the window to find it. And OSwald spotted it.
"There it is!" he called, pointing to a deep trench in the ocean floor.
Helga called into a specialized phone next to her, "All crafts! Make your mark twenty drgfrees down-angle!"
"Right away!" said Xion.
"Twenty degrees down angle!" said Donald.
"Right behind you!" shouted Mole.
As the sub-pods followed the Aqua-Evac, the leviathan swooped down and started swiping at the survivors.
"Cinders and ashes!" Goofy cried. (5)
"They're getting killed out here!" yelled Riku.
"It's only a grease trap, it's just like a sink. It's only a grease trap, it's just lien a siiiiink!" Milo said fearfully.
Dodging the Leviathan's blasts, the Aqua-Evac and the surviving sub-pods made it to the trench just in time, only six pods left, which included Vinny, Mole, and the ten world-travelers.
Eventually, they made it above water in a cave at the end of the trench.
The subs emerged as they stopped.
Max went over to his dad.
"Dad, are you ok?" he asked.
Goofy felt his heartbeat rapidly as he tried to breathe calmly and smiled weakly at his own.
"I'm ok. You?" he asked.
"I've been better." Max chuckled weakly.
They emerged from the sub-pod, relieved to see Riku, Terra, Aqua, Xion, Donald, Daisy, Isa, and Lea emerge from there knowing that them and their friends were ok.
But the same couldn't be said for those who were killed in the Leviathan.
To be continued...
And now we've started Atlantis! And we've met Chip and Dale's old teammates, Gadget, Monterey Jack, and Zipper, the Rescue Rangers! And their good friend Foxglove!
The expedition is on and they just barely survived the Leviathan attack.
Special thanks to Super Sayian 3 Odd for the scene with Donald, Aqua, and Lena.
Rate and review and I'll see you all soon!
(1) Kingdom Hearts Fanon Wiki Atlantis (KH:SoZ) page
(2) Michael J. Fox, who plays Marty McFly in the Back to the Future franchise, was also the voice of Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
(3) Vinny's voice actor, Don Novello, plays a chain-smoking priest named Father Guido Sarducci.
(4) Della hates fish as mentioned in "The Lost Harp of Mervana!"
(5) Thomas the Tank Engine's catchphrase on the show.