When Darkness Turns to Light

The Little Sea Monster

Recappy From the Last Chappy: Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and the dews that had begun forming in the corners of her eyes began to dry. Deciding that if she continued she would wake him before long, she retracted the hand that pet Red XIII, wiped her eyes, and rested it on the empty part of the mattress in front of her face.

Riku . . . I know it's not over. It's just not. She closed her eyes.

Red XIII opened his good eye and lifted his head, twisting to look over his shoulder at the girl. He gazed at her sad, yet serene, face, and his eye softened. For helping me with Gilligan. He returned to his original position and settled back into sleep.

Chapter Thirty-six: The Little Sea Monster

"Hey, Hiki, wake up! We've made it to the next world. Donald already landed the Gummi," called Sora. He beat on Hikari's mattress like a drum when her eyes remained closed. "Wakey-wakey, eggs and bacy!"

The kunoichi twisted part of the way onto her back and rubbed her eyes. "Mmmm. . . ." I don't want to get up, though. . . . Do I really have to? She peeked with one eye as she stretched; according to the clock, she had slept for almost ten hours. ". . . It's time to get up."

Sora had already left the room, leaving Hikari some privacy as she dressed and performed some necessary parts of her morning routine. She did them quickly and proceeded toward the cockpit, stopping by only the kitchen to pick up a banana to curb her morning hunger.

She was passing one of the side windows as she peeled the banana; a few angelfish swam by.

She stopped with the tip of the banana in her mouth. ". . . ?" Biting off a small piece, she walked back a few steps and looked out the window more directly. A school of fish crossed her vision, and she noticed the bottom side of a starfish was stuck on the window.

. . . . "DONALD!"

In the cockpit, said duck jumped and widened his eyes with fear. He heard Hikari's stomping as she ran to the front of the ship. He squawked, and would have looked for a place to hide, but it was too late; she stood in the doorway connecting the hall and the cockpit.

"You sank my Gummi ship!" she yelled. "What were you thinking? This thing is barely equipped to act as a boat, let alone a submarine! Man, I just fixed the engine, too. What do you think being underwater will do to it?"

The duck quickly composed himself and crossed his arms. "Nothing will happen, I used my magic on the Gummi to keep water from hurting it. It keeps the air inside, too, just like a submarine. This world is all water-there was nowhere else to land!"

Hikari pouted and took another bite out of her banana. "What's this place called, anyway?"

"Atlantica." He smiled smugly, taking her silence as victory. "Now come on, we've got some exploring to do!"

Sora spoke up. "We're going out there? Into the sea? We'll drown!"

Donald shook his head and winked. "Not with my magic, we won't!"

"Magic this, magic that . . . ," Hikari mumbled. She finished her banana, tossed the peel in a trash bin, and followed the guys to the door. She did not question how they would exit without flooding the inside; there was a beam-like feature that would warp them outside.

The magic used by Donald to ensure they would not drown was a simple transformation spell that gave them the ability to breathe underwater. Sora's legs and hips resembled a blue-skinned dolphin's, and Donald traded in his legs for blue tentacles with yellow suckers. Goofy was now a sea turtle with only his head resembling his actual self and his shield attached to a yellow shell; Red XIII was made into a red sea lion, retaining only his face, mane, tattoos, and clips.