Chapter 19

Piri's POV

We were traveling through space and Donald actually taught Soar how to drive the Gummi Ship and let him drive, surprising right? All the while, I kept wondering about Riku and Light.

Something was wrong. Before I passed out, I think he was going to ask me if Sora call me useless. He was there, but also trying to avoid Sora. Then my mind came up with a thought; after I had passed out, Jasmine was gone. Did Riku take her? No, surely not...

And what about Light? Jafar said she was never to awake. Was her heart taken as well? I don't want to take her to Serah like that. I would fail as a cousin and friend.

"What is that?" Donald snapped me out of my thoughts. I peeked out from behind his chair- since it was in front of me- and saw... what was I looking at?

"It's huge, whatever it is." Sora said.

We watched the thing open its mouth as it made its way to us. I got a better look. "It's a Whale!"

"It's Monstro! He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!" Jiminy said from Sora's pocket.

"He's gonna eat us! Sora, get us out of here!" I yelled.

"Too late! He's going to shallow us whole!" he cried.

khkhkh

Sora's POV

-flashback-

"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes!" I said to Riku and Piri.

"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?" Riku asked, not believing me.

"What if he did see it, Riku?" Piri said, worriedly.

"What difference does it make? There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, suppose it was a monster, think we three can take it?" Riku asked. I looked at him with confidence.

"No problem!" I said and Piri nodded.

"Yeah, let's do it!" as she stepped forward, we heard the thing growl inside. We all jumped and Piri jumped back, hugging Riku. I internally laughed my head off.

"See? Can you hear that growl?"

"Yeah!" she shouted and glared at me.

"Shh, quiet! We've gotta be careful." he scooted Piri behind him and we went through the small mouth of the cave, walking to the other side of it. "See that? It's just the wind making that noise." he told us.

"Aw man! I wish it was a monster." Piri gasped at this.

"Are you crazy? Why on earth would you want that?!"

"You sound scared, Pi..." I pointed out and she straighten out.

"I'm not scared... just, concerned, is all..." she blushed and pouted. Riku laughed, which made her slightly redder.

That's when I noticed... a door? "What's that over there?"

Riku and Piri snapped their heads to what I was pointing at. Riku went over to it and Piri walked to my side.

"Is it a door?" Piri asked, tilting her head.

"It won't open!" Riku said.

"Geez, is that really all that's in here?" I said.

"Aw, I wish it wasn't boring!" Piri said, annoyed.

"What did you expect in a boring place like this? Hey, guys!" He got our attention, "When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff. We might even find Pi's sister!"

"That would be nice to find her..." she looked at the ground but then looked up with a huge smile, "Plus, it sounds really fun! What do you say, Sora?" she asked and put her hand in the middle. Riku put his hand on top of hers.

I nodded and placed my hand on top, "Sure! But until then, what are we going to do now?"

"Let's go meet that new girl! The one staying with the mayor!" Piri said.

"Oh, yeah!" I giggled and we walked out of the cave. Everything flashed.

-flashback ends-

"Sora!" Piri's voice came through and I opened my eyes.

"Piri..." I groaned as I sat up. Amara was in my lap and she hugged me.

"Amara was worried about you, too!" she giggled and I rubbed Amara's head.

"Knock it off!" Donald yelled. Piri helped me to my feet.

"Hey, Sora. Are you okay?" Goofy asked, holding his shield above his head.

"What are you doing? Where are we, anyways?" I asked. That's when a chest hit Amara on the head. She hissed at it and disappeared into Piri's shadow. I snickered at this.

"Don't laugh at poor Amara!" she said, more like warned. Her face twisted with disgust, "By the way, we're inside Goliath's mouth."

"And for today's weather: expect showers." Goof said and chest fell on his shield, "Heavy showers! A-yhuck!"

"Hey! Who's there?" Donald asked, yelling.

"It's me!" a voice said. It was Pinoke!

"Oh, it's just Pinocchio... Pinocchio?!" Donald finally realized that he was here.

"Pinocchio? Pinoke, where are you going? Pinoke!" he called, "Come on, everyone! After him!"

Piri's POV

We swim had to swim across a disgusting salva lake that formed in Monstro's mouth to get to the other side. I swear I was going to throw up.

"Ew! This is going to take forever to get out of my hair!" I undid my braid and wrung it out.

"Oh, get over it, Cindy Lou!" Donald said and I shot him a dirty look.

"Okay, Duck boy," he hated being called that as I hated to be called that, "You try growing hair and swimming through a lake of salva! I'm sure it will threat you well!"

"Relax, sis! I can deal with it!" Sora said.

"That's because you use protective hair gel for your spikes!" I crossed my arms.

It was quiet until he spoke again, "...So? You can be a real girl sometimes..."

you can be a real girl sometimes...

That triggered something in my heart. I closed my eyes.

"Oh yeah!" Sis said, getting to her feet. "Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exam tomorrow." she dug through her pockets and took out the necklaces.

"Wait, are those the necklaces you were working on, earlier?" I asked her, holding a kitty plushie, and she nodded.

"I made one for each of us." she smiled and head us a wayfinder each. Mine was purple with platinum rims.

"Look what sis made me, Kawaii!" I showed it to my cat plushie.

"Kawaii?" Ven asked.

"Yeah! That's her name!" I hugged her, looking at the wayfinder. "Why is it shaped like a star?" I asked Aqua.

"Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit... and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms like it... nothing can ever drive you apart." sis said.

"Oh, the paopu fruit! You told me about them!" I looked at the charm. "It's sounds really romantic... one day, I'll ask Lea to share one with me!" I covered my mouth with Kawaii and Aqua's eyes widened.

"You have a crush on our brother's friend?" my cheeks got warmer.

I gulped, "N-no, I don't!"

Aqua and Ven giggled while Terra smirked.

"You two can be a real girl sometimes." Terra teased her while she was holding up our wayfinders. Ven laughed at this as I hugged Kawaii, raising an eyebrow at Terra.

"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?" Aqua read my mind.

"Yeah! You can be sexist sometimes, Terr."

I opened my eyes and a tear ran down my face, "I miss you, guys..."

Sora turned around towards me, "What?"

"Oh, sorry... just thinking out loud. I remembered how I got this." I took out my wayfinder.

"What is it?" Donald asked.

"It's a wayfinder. It's kind like what Kairi was making before we left the islands... but this one was made by my sister. she made one for each of her friends and me. As long as I keep it with me, I'll find them again." I warmly smiled ad closed my eyes.

"Yeah! And don't forget Kairi, Lightning, and Riku!" Sora cheered.

"It's probable we can find Amara's heart, too!" Goofy added with a smile.

"Of course!" I smiled and looked at Donald, "We can find' em with the captain of the Gummi Ship!"

Donald smiled, "Me?"

I smirked and teased him, "Nope, Sora is captain!" he grumbled at this.

After I picked on Donald a little more, I saw an elderly man an the boat. He was talking to Pinoke. They were talking to each other. I figured the man was his dad.

"What have you got there, Pinocchio?" he asked his son.

"With this, we can get out of here, father." the boy said with confidence.

"Really? With this big block? You think so?" We all lifted ourselves up on the boat.

"It's true. So, how did you end up here, Pinocchio?" Sora asked.

"Oh, my! So the whale swallowed all of you, too?" the dad said, "My goodness!"

"Yeah, looks like it." Sora said.

"Are you his dad?" I asked.

"Yes, I am." he said, "My name is Geppetto. When we got separated, I traveled all over looking for him. Thank goodness we're together." He picked up the gummi block, "So, you seem to know Pinocchio quite well. I hope he was a good boy in my absence."

"Yeah!" I grinned.

"We all had a journey. Right, Pinocchio? Pinocchio?" he was gone. I managed to see a glimpse of him going further in the whale.

"There he is! Come on, guys!" The four of us hurried after him. We found him lingering in an opening. "Hey, Pinoke. What'cha doing?" I put up a sweet smile.

"Playing hide'n 'seek!" I giggled at this.

"Stop foolin' around! This is no time for games!" Sora scolded and I punched him the back of his head.

"Sora! He's a little boy!" I turned to Pinoke as Sora rubbed the knot on his head. "Ignore him! Let's go to your dad first. He's really worried about you. After that, we'll play! How's that sound?"

"That sounds great!" he said and we turned to walk back.

"But Sora, I thought you liked games." That was Riku! We turned to see him standing next to Pinocchio. "Or are you too cool to to play them now that you have the keyblade?"

"Riku! What are you doing here?" Sora asked.

"Just playing with Pinocchio." Riku simply said. But, I sensed so many emotions from him- anger, betrayal, sadness, and jealousy... especially jealousy. This surely was Maleficent's work. She was turning him against Sora.

"You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?" Sora asked frantically.

"Maybe... Catch us and I'll tell you what I know." he teased.

"Come on!" Sora said, annoyed.

Riku grabbed Pinocchio and ran. I quickly chased after him. If the witch has her way with him and he doesn't listen to me, he'll go down a path where there's no return. He'll do something he will regret for the rest of his life. I caught a glimpse of Riku. He was talking to Maleficent. I hide so she won't see me.

"Why do you still care about that boy? He has all but deserted you for the keyblade and his new companions, after all." the witch said.

"Don't-" I covered my mouth. Maleficent looked around but Riku didn't seem to hear me.

"I don't care about him. I was just messing with him a little." I felt my heart break a little. How could he say that about someone who's been like a little brother to him for basically his whole life?

"Oh, really? Of course you were. Beware the darkness in your heart. The heartless prey upon it." Maleficent warned. "And that girl-"

"Mind your own business!" Riku snapped.

"Why do you still care for her? She's obviously infatuated with your former feiend." That lying bitch! I summoned my keyblade. Riku knows I would give him a broken leg if he flirted with me.

"Oh really?" I walked up to them, "How so?"

"Piri!" he sounded happy.

"Explain to me this, what happened to him when he flirted with me?" I asked him and turned to Maleficent.

"I predict that was before all this. Do you tell him everything?" she smirked.

"What are you talking about?" I said through my teeth and Riku gulped. She laughed and disappeared. I throw my keyblade at the place she disappeared from.

"Don't listen to her. I know You aren't in love with Sora that way." he smiled his real smile- the one I've missed for a while.

I hugged him, "I don't, you shouldn't either." I felt his arms around me, "You also know me and Sora wouldn't ever replace you or Kairi. Why are you siding with her?"

"They have Kairi. And... she's lost her heart." I felt mine come to a complete stop.

"Kai's heart... lost? But how?" I hugged back and he sighed.

"She said she would help me. Siding with Maleficent is the only way."

"Riku..." I felt my heart break more. My head started to hurt again. I closed my eyes, fighting to hold back the tears as I saw something.

"Take care of them, will ya?" Sora asked with a smile. With that, he stabbed himself in the chest with a keyblade.

His heart and three others flew out of his chest. One flew into Kairi, one to Light, and one to me.

Sora's smile began to fade.

"Sora... Sora!" Donald cried.

I snapped back to reality. Sora had Light's heart? As well as Kairi's? But how did he get them? I was about to tell him but a simple phrase popped in my head:

The fate of the Radiant Garden's prophetess is internal. Only she can know what the future holds. If she tries to change it, others will be doomed.

"NO!" I shouted and fell to my knees in tears, still holding Riku.

"Lovebug, what's wrong?" he knelt down with me, "Pi?"

I looked up at him and shook my head, "...You... You c-can't side with Maleficent... you can't..." Pinoke ran past us and I saw Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Riku! What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realize what your doing?" Sora said angrily and Riku got up.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seemed to be interested in running around and showing off that keyblade. Do you even want to save Kairi?" I growled and stood up.

"HOW COULD YOU EVEN SAY THAT!" I blew up on him. Tears were falling and my cheeks were on fire. I ran past him and into the chamber Pinocchio was in. I tripped over my own feet, putting me on my hands and knees.

"Are you okay, Piri?" I looked up to see Pinocchio was looking at me, worried about me. I smiled and wiped my tears.

"I just fell, don't worry." I got up and dusted off my clothes. He was about to say something but I continued talking, "How about we play that hide and seek?"

That's when a cage-like heartless appeared and took Pinoke. I summoned Rainfell and its tentacles rushed to me. I hit both of them and did a back flip. The things charged again, knocking the keyblade out of my hands. I made a mistake of getting my shotlock ready. I didn't get it all the way charged and the thing forcefully grabbed me.

"Piri!" Pinoke cried and I screamed at the top of my lungs, hopefully Riku and Sora can hear me, and struggled my way out with no success.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" I screamed, "RIKU!"

"PIRI!" I heard Sora and Riku scream and I looked at them. I felt a spike at the end of tentacle pierce my stomach and shut my eyes. I screamed and blood was dripping down the lower half of my body. My mind was getting blank and I couldn't move.

khkhkh

Riku's POV

I became enraged and slash at the Parasite Cage. One of its tentacles got cut off during the fiasco and it roared with pain. Piri dropped, so I caught her and cradled her in my arms. She was bleeding to much. No, I couldn't lose her! I took of my shirt and held it to the wound. Sora and his friends dealt with the heartless. Sora ran over to me.

"Is she...?" Sora asked.

"Don't say that!" I snapped, "She's losing too much blood."

"Riku, do you know any healing magic?" Sora asked me.

"Yeah, some." I answered.

"All of us should heal her at once." Sora said.

"Yeah!" the other two said. I had little choice if I wanted to save Piri's life. I set her down gently and Sora, the other two, and I healed her. I lefted my shirt from her wound, only to see no wound. Not even a scar. The Parasite Cage lifted it self up and spit out Pinocchio into a hole. I ran after him, putting my shirt.