DISCLAIMER: This is getting super unnecessary... *Sigh* I don't own Kingdom Hearts, yada, yada, yada...

The next few days seemed a lot brighter for me.

Considering Donald's limp (which I had neglected to notice in my pity-party) and our exhaustion with all of that stuff, we decided to stay in Traverse Town for a few days, after which, Sora, Donald and Goofy reluctantly told me they were going to leave me here, the buggers. They got a deserved smack to the head, for that.

Me and... dad had a few good talks, laughing. Jeez, it would take awhile to get used to that. I was still a little mad at him, but I was trying. He was even training me. As to how that was going...

"Ouch!"

"You need to stay still."

I grumbled, grimacing as Aerith gently jabbed at the bruises and cuts on my arms. "Tell that to dad." I hissed as she applied a bit too much pressure. She smiled at me as she put a bandage around a particular cut.

"I'm sure he's just trying to look out for you," she assured, standing up and tossing her braids back.

I scoffed, standing up with her. "Seems more like he's trying to cripple me."

She chuckled. "I'm sure that's not what he's trying to accomplish. You just need to toughen up a bit," she insisted, packing up her supplies. I rolled my eyes, heading towards the door.

"Yeah, totally what he's trying to do," I drawled sarcastically as I headed out the door. "I'm gunna go see what kind of trouble the three dorks got themselves into."

"Have fun!"

I eventually found the three in Merlin's house. The wizard was helping us, (particularly Sora and I, mainly me) with magic. Sora was trying to shoot down moving furniture with the Keyblade, occasionally with a fireball. Donald and Goofy were sparing on the other side as I walked up.

"You guys training hard?" I questioned as their timer went off. They were breathing heavily, but determination was in their eyes and mind.

"Yeah!" Sora chirped as he grinned, huffing away his bangs. "I think I got this move down-pat!"

"I think I've improved my accuracy and power," Donald piped in, and shaking his flipper. "And I think my leg is better now, too. With that said, though, I think I'm done for the day." Goofy agreed with him and followed the duck as he sat down on a free couch.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see the smirking form of Sora. "Wanna spar?" he challenged, and I took out my sword, smirking with him.

"Oh, you're on!" I exclaimed, bringing my hands up to tie my hair.

He grinned in satisfaction. "I'll just warn you; I've got years of practice and amazing skills to prove it," he boasted arrogantly as he held out his weapon, a competitive look in his eyes.

I halted, but didn't back down. "True. But that means I'll be able to push my limits." That was my goal; I wanted to see how far I've come since the beginning of our journey.

"Ready?" Donald called from the sidelines, and Sora and I nodded our heads. "Go!"

Sora came rushing towards me in a quick burst of speed, and I swiftly moved out of the way. Not halting in his stride, he whirled around, a swing of the Keyblade coming into contact with my sword. I grunted at the impact, before lifting my leg and kicking him in the stomach, effectively pushing him away. I jumped back, keeping an eye on him as he recovered from the hit.

He grinned, before running diagonally away from me. He leaped onto the wall, jumping towards me with a cry. I dived forward, and as he landed with a roll, I went in for a strike to his exposed back. He rolled sideways, but I didn't halt in my onslaught. He lunged up just as I went for a hit, blocking the attack with his sword. I continued in my barrage of attacks, increasingly getting faster and faster as I backed him up, making him grunt with each blow, clenching his teeth. Sweat collected on my forehead, and I was breathing deeply, but I wouldn't let up my attacks.

I had cornered him, and just as I went to take the final blow, he suddenly ducked, diving between my legs. I eeped in both surprise and embarrassment, and suddenly I fell to the ground. I groaned in pain, and let out a huff as the Keyblade was pointed in my face.

"Man, I almost had you this time," I whined. I glared at the hand Sora offered to me as he laughed.

"Close. But you left a huge opening," he chided. I glared once again as I stood up. Grinning, I kicked the legs out from under him, chortling when he yelped as he fell.

"You left a huge opening," I cackled, repeating his own words along with a terrible impression of his boyish voice. He glared halfheartedly at me while he stood, brushing away the dirt on his pants.

"You're getting stronger and stronger every day, Valerie!" Goofy beamed at me, and I smiled back.

"Thanks, Goofy!"

"That's good news. We're gunna head out tomorrow," Donald chimed in as he made his way over to us in quick strides, a grumpy look on his face. "We've stayed in this town too long. Who knows how far away the King is, now? I wanna get a head-start, so we need to get up early." I groaned at the order. Donald smirked at me, adding, "So you should head to bed now."

I grumbled. "Yes, Donald."

"Promise to be safe?" Aerith asked as we stood outside the gummi ship, the whole gang there to see us off.

I smiled at her, trying to hold in my yawn. Curse you Donald... "We'll be fine, Aerith! We'll be back before you notice!"

Sora nodded, also trying not to yawn. "Yeah! And next time, Riku and Kairi will be able to meet you guys!"

"Alright, time to go," Donald grumbled as his head poked out of the door. "Wrap up the goodbyes."

I rolled my eyes at the duck's attitude, but turned to the gang. "See you guys soon."

They nodded "Don't be strangers!" Yuffie proclaimed as she grinned.

"And try not to get into too much trouble?" Leon added stoically, although the corners of his lips were tipping upwards. Sora and I cried out in offense, but we were chuckling as we did so. As they left, we waved them goodbye. Then there was only my dad left.

"I'll leave you guys alone," Sora said as he walked into the ship. He smiled at dad. "It was nice meeting you, Jack."

Dad smiled, nodding at him. "Likewise." Then we were left alone. He turned to me, holding out his arms. I didn't hesitate in accepting the hug, sighing as I rested my forehead on his shoulder. He buried his nose in my hair, and mumbled, "Promise me you'll be safe?"

"I promise, dad," I answered, closing my eyes to try and hold this moment as long as possible. "Next time, Piper will be here with us." I had made it my vow to find whoever had taken Piper from me and get her back. I'm not sure if I ever will find them, but I was determined to.

He pulled back, and I longed for the comfort he gave for a split second. "Don't push yourself," he joked as he ruffled my hair with a grin.

I chuckled, swatting at his hands. "I won't." That was probably a lie. I tended to make up a lot of life threatening plans and ideas, now that I think about it...

"Come back soon," he said as I went to enter the gummi ship, his eyes masking an expression I couldn't pin-point. He seemed lost if he should leave or stay, and it was like something was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't say it.

I hesitated, before smiling at him. "Love you." He stopped with a jolt as he turned around, mouth gaping like a fish, before a large grin split his face, crinkles in his eyes.

"Love you too, Val."

I grinned back, before rushing into the ship, waving my goodbye as Donald was yelling at me to hurry up. I quickly made my way to the console room, flopping down in my seat. "Alrighty! All good to go!"

Thus began another long, silent drive to wherever fate led us. Thankfully, Cid had installed another gummi for the ship so it would run faster, but it was still a pretty long ride. Due to waking up so early, I was still extremely drowsy. Although having my neck crooked in the most awkward of positions wasn't very pleasing, I was too tired to care.

"Val, Val!"

I grumbled, glaring at the form of Sora beside me. His hand was on my shoulder, from where he shook me from my slumber mercilessly, and his gaze was looking out the window, an awed expression on his face. "What," I hissed.

"Look!"

I grumbled again, but did as he said, and I as my eyes fell upon the object of his awe, I gasped, and bolted up. "What the hell is that?!"

"It looks like a whale!" Donald observed, trying to steer us away. The... whale cried out, a large, thundering noise that made me clamp my ears as I groaned in pain, the others doing the same. But Goofy must have had it worse.

Eventually, the sound died out, and slowly we tried to recuperate ourselves. Goofy whined in pain, rubbing at his ears. "That's Monstro!" Jiminey exclaimed, and I turned to him, still slightly pained. "He's the king of whales, if I've ever seen one!"

"And, uh... h-he's heading towards us," Sora stuttered, pointing towards Monstro.

"Donald!" I barked in fright, scrambling in my chair as the whale moved closer towards us. "Get us out of here!"

"I'm trying!" Donald yelled back, trying to steer away. "He's too fast!" Monstro had opened its mouth, and it was nearing even closer.

"He's gunna eat us!"

"Brace yourself!"

"AAAHH!"

"Ungh..."

My fingers twitched, and I groaned in pain. My head was aching terribly, and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. 'Where... where am I?' Slowly, I tried to open my eyes. I took in the view of the console room in the gummi ship, and I slowly sat up, rubbing at my aching head.
"Val?" I turned to see Goofy had sat up too, and I also noticed the slumped over forms of Sora and Donald

I began to shake the duck. "Donald? Donald? Get up!" The duck didn't respond, so, grinning, I said, "If you don't wake up I'm driving the gummi ship!"

He jolted up, and began to glare at me. "You'd better not!" Chortling, I tried to get Sora up.

He got us with less difficulty than Donald, thankfully. "Where are we?" he asked, rubbing at his head.

"I... I believe we're inside Monstro," Jiminey said, and I wrinkled my nose.

"Disgusting..."

"Only one way to find out," Sora said as he began to make his way down. I groaned, wrinkling my nose once again, before following him.

"Ugh! This is nasty!" I cried out, poking my feet at the ground, or... whatever it was. I gagged as it made a squishing noise. "Ungh..."

"Out you go!"

I yelped as I was pushed forward, and I bolted up once I landed. "Oh my god, you-! Donald, you jerk!" I flicked my hand, and grimaced at the slime that flew off my hand.

"You had to get out sooner or later," Donald said, shrugging. I scowled at him, and flicked my hand at him, cackling as the slime splotched on his face and he shrieked in disgust.

"Karma!" I told him.

"Who's that?" Goofy questioned, rubbing at his head as he glanced upwards. There was a small figure up there, but I couldn't really tell.

"I dunno," I answered as I stood up, wiping my body clean of the slime.

"Let's go see," Sora said, and we nodded.

"I'll come with you guys," Jiminey said, jumping into my hand, and I raised him up to my hood, the little cricket taking refuge there.

We slowly followed the figure, jumping onto damaged ship parts to avoid falling into the clear liquid that was most definitely Monstro's spit. It required a lot of teamwork, with Goofy occasionally having to catch me when I would almost not make it.

We arrived at a half damaged ship, and my eye's widened in surprise when I saw a little wooden boy, Pinocchio.

We had a little encounter with the boy back in Traverse Town during our week there. He was a friendly little thing, even if a bit deceiving. But I only wanted to know how he got here.

Pinocchio was hugging an older man -Geppetto, I think- , as he was fretted over. "Oh, Pinocchio, I looked all over for you!" Geppetto cried, hugging the boy closer.

"Me too, father!"

It seemed the man noticed we had appeared because he had let go of Pinocchio, giving us a curious look. "Oh, my, it seems this whale has swallowed you too!"

"It appears so," Donald grumbled, tapping his feet. It appeared he wasn't happy with the situation, making me laugh.

"Well, I've been in here for quite awhile," he said, chuckling. "Oh, my, where are my manners? My name is Geppetto -Pinnoch's father. I was stranded here when I was looking for him." He put an arm around the boy, smiling largely at him and gaining one in return. "Thank goodness we're together again."

I smiled at the sight, only for Donald to suddenly ruin the mood as he questioned, "How did you even get here? You were in Traverse Town last time we saw you."

Pinocchio flinched, shifting nervously. He opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something, before he glanced down. "I sneaked onto your ship..." he mumbled, fidgeting with his hands.

"You what?!" Donald yelled in fury, glaring heatedly at the boy. Pinocchio flinched, glancing at the duck timidly.

"I only wanted to find father..." he mumbled. I glared at the duck as he went to make an angry retort.

"You know how much you want to find the king? Well, its the same with him, so lighten up," I angrily whispered in his ear. He grumbled, seeing my point, and crossed his arms grumpily, as even Sora glared at him.

"It's okay, Pinocchio. Just maybe you could ask next time, okay?" Goofy offered kindly, making the boy relax in relief.

"O-okay..."

"I'm sorry for any troubles he may have caused you," Geppetto apologized, glancing over at Pinocchio, as the boy glanced down sadly. Donald was about to answer, before I kicked him non-so gently.

"It's okay, he didn't cause any trouble, Geppetto," Sora replied with a smile, and a glare aimed at Donald.

"Well, that's good to hear," the older man said, smiling. "On another note- have you any ideas for getting out of here?"

"Well, we do have our ship, and I'm pretty sure that shouldn't be too hard to get out with," Donald answered, still a little grumpy.

Geppetto beamed. "That's great to hear! Pinocchio, did you hear that? We can get out!" He glanced to the side, only to see Pinocchio had disappeared. Furrowing his eyebrows, he glanced around the area. "Pinocch?" The boy didn't answer, and he repeated a bit more concerned. "Pinocchio?"

I glanced around too, only for Sora to make a noise of confusion. "What is he doing over there?" he asked to himself. We glanced over to where the key-bearer had been looking, and I only just saw Pinocchio disappear into an opening. I shuddered to think where that went.

"Pinocchio!" Geppetto called after him, but the boy didn't react to it at all. "Oh dear, that boy is more trouble than he's worth," he sighed, shaking his head. He turned to the four of us, giving a remorseful look. "I'd hate to ask this of you, but would you mind looking for my son? I wouldn't want him to get hurt."

Surprisingly, it was Donald who agreed. "Sure, we need to figure a way out of here anyway."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Geppetto happily exclaimed, and we began to make our way to wherever Pinocchio went.

AN: Sorry this chapter is so short. I realized I was kinda neglecting it since I began a new project, (whoops) so I wanted to get it out as soon as possible.

How was Christmas? Or whatever holiday you're celebrating, I hope you enjoyed it. ^^

Not much to say. Oh yeah! I'm considering re-writing the earlier chapter because they were bad. What do you guys think?

Until next time!

-Adios!