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We have to reach level 5000!

*grabs*

*pulls back*

No one leaves until this is done.

I had that for a while, but I changed it back to regular English. I don't remember why...

At this point, it's basically a struggling tomato plant. You really should pull it up, but it has one last yellow tomato on it that you want to ripen.

Garden metaphors. Yeah, I went there.

And now it's time! For another chapter! Yay! As before, these are going to be quite a bit later for July, but don't worry. I'll post them.

Spoiler: Chapter 19 - Gummi Ships and Squirrels

Blinking sleepily, all Sora could really think was, again? He had definitely been in this position before. Propped up against an alley wall, right after his world had been destroyed. Although… This time, it wasn’t his world. Slowly, his gaze turned to the bodies littering the ground near him. Riku was lying on his side next to the opposite wall. Dick was sprawled out in front of the crates at the end of the alley. Jason was on his side, right next to Dick, head laying on one of Dick’s outstretched arms. His helmet was a few feet away. Sora paused, then grabbed his backpack (lying right next to Jason), rummaging through it until he found the all-purpose communicator Alfred had packed. Dick had shown him how to use it on the boat-ride and, turning the lens so it faced the two crime-fighters, snapped a quick pic. Payback to Jason for drawing on his face. He’d show it to Dick later.

Stashing his comm. back in his bag, he nudged Riku with his foot. “Riku, wake up.” Riku groaned, slowly, slowly coming back to consciousness. Sora shakily stood up and shook Dick and Jason’s shoulders’ as well. “Come on guys, wake up!” Dick stirred, but Jason remained stubbornly asleep. Suddenly, Sora wished Donald was here. He knew how much power to put behind a Thunder spell to wake someone up without hurting them. Sora, not so much. So he went back to shaking Jason.

“No, Sora, that won’t work.” Dick, fully awake now, jabbed his fingers into a pressure point in Jason’s side. The previously-sleeping teen's eyes flew open, his fist flying straight towards Dick’s face. Skilled at waking his brother by this point, Dick simply caught the fist. “Morning sleepy-head! Time to wake up!”

Sora sat back as Jason slowly went through the stages of waking up. When he finally sat up, he looked around, taking in his unfamiliar surroundings. “Where are we?”

“Not Gotham,” Dick said, which earned him a look from Jason. He ignored him, instead looking up at the sky. “I don’t recognize any of these constellations. So not on Earth either.”

Standing, Sora stretched, reveling in the feeling of his spine un-kinking itself. “Traverse Town. We’ve been here before. This is First District.” Walking to the end of the alley, he motioned to Riku. “So, that restaurant is still open.”

“The one with the sandwiches?”

"Best sandwiches in all the worlds. Guys!” He turned to Dick and Jason, still in their suits. “Do you have any less conspicuous clothes? I’m starving, but we can’t get food with you guys sticking out like sore thumbs.” They really did. Traverse Town didn’t have any superheroes, at least, not any who wore black body suits and masks. The two of them nodded and grabbed their duffel bags, pulling out some civvies. There wasn’t anywhere to change, so they took off their boots and gloves, and pulled jeans and t shirts on top. Dick covered his shirt with a hoodie, followed by a black jacket. Jason put his own jacket back on and replaced his helmet and mask with a pair of sunglasses. Surprisingly, Dick did the same.

Noticing Sora’s questioning look, Dick simply shrugged. “Habit. B likes our civvies to partially hide our identities.”

Riku crossed his arms. “You don’t really have to worry about that now. No one here has even heard of Nightwing and Red Hood, let alone Dick and Jay.”

Jason simply shrugged. “It’s always good to be careful. Letting our identities out here could spell a world of trouble for us in the future.” Running a hand through his hair, he slung his duffel across his back and headed for the alley exit. “So, where’re these sandwiches?”

A sandwich each, and a general admission that the sandwiches were pretty good (but Alfred’s were better), the four sat around the table. It was quiet until Dick asked, “So, you said during the fight that you knew what had been going on. What was it? And how did we end up here?”

Sora looked helplessly at Riku. How to even being explaining…? His friend sighed, and started, “The Heartless got into the world’s heart. Gotham is lost to the darkness now, along with everyone on it except us.”

Dead quiet across the table. Jason and Dick both looked mortified. Sora added quickly, “But we can probably get it back! We can find it! We had lost our Island too, but after we defeated Ansem, the Island came back!” He really hoped it would be the same for Gotham.

Again, it was Dick who broke the silence. “So, where is it now? Where’s Batman and Red and Robin?”

“Sleeping.” Riku sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. “When the world returns, they’ll wake up.”

“But why us?” Even with sunglasses in the way, Riku could feel the intensity of Jason’s gaze. “Why are we the only ones to land here?”

This one stumped Riku. In all the time since the Island had been destroyed, he had never figured out why he, Sora, and Kairi had gotten off relatively unscathed. He had assumed that it was because of the Keyblade, but Dick and Jason didn’t have Keyblades. “I have no idea. Luck?” He turned to Sora, who just shrugged.

“Either way, we still need to get to Yen Sid. He’ll probably know the best way for us to save Gotham too.” A waitress came by and grabbed up each of their plates. Sora took one last drink and then handed his glass to her as well. “Any idea how we’re going to get there Riku?”

Riku snorted. As if he had to ask. “I set the gummi ship so it would follow his specific darkness.” Jabbing a thumb at Jason, he continued. “All Chip and Dale have to do is fly it here. They should be arriving soon.” A strange whoosh sounded near the town’s gate, one which was very familiar to Sora and Riku. “Right on time.”

Sora leaped up, extending his hand in invitation to the other two. “Let’s go guys! We have a world to save!”

~*~​

The first thing Jason noticed about the ship was the squirrels. Animals on a ship would be strange enough, but these ones were wearing clothes! And what was more, they could TALK. As Jason came though the entrance to the ship and strolled causally behind Sora into the cockpit, he spotted the little creatures up on the main control panel and, to his later horror, jumped.

“What in the…?! Are those squirrels? And is that one holding a wrench!?”

Sora raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Jason who was now staring at Chip and Dale with the most extreme fixation.

Chip abruptly stopped working on the circuit board he had been fixing and turned around to face the new passengers, his little black nose held indignantly in the air. “We are NOT squirrels. We are chipmunks. And I happen to be called Chip.”

He flicked his tail at his brother who smiled a more good-natured, if not nervous smile. “This here is a chipmunk too. And his name’s Dale. We two are the main crew and mechanics on this ship.”

Dale jumped onto the floor from his perch, and ran up to Jason who instinctively took a step back. “Great to meet'cha, Red Hood. Riku has told us all about you.” He turned to face Dick who was now crouching down next to him with a too huge smile on his face. He was obviously enjoying the talking animals immensely “And you're Ngithwing? It's nice to meet'cha too!”

“The pleasure’s all mine.” Dick said, holding out his hand to be shook by the chipmunk's tiny paw. “But just out of curiosity, how did you know who Red Hood and I were? We aren’t wearing our costumes.”

Chip hopped down to join his brother and shake Dick’s hand as well. The three of them seemed to get along very well. “That's because Riku made a very detailed report on you and your friends. I could guess from your voice file and body type that you were Nightwing. And Red Hood was easy. His white hair is very distinctive.”

Jason gave Riku – who had his hands behind his head and was smirking – an annoyed look while Dick nodded, standing up. “You guys are just as smart as you look!”

The two creatures beamed at him.

“Well, now that all the introductions are through, and since Chip and Dale are fixing who knows what, wanna give our visitors a tour of the ship Sora?” Riku asked. With a start, Sora jerked to attention. He had obviously been day dreaming, and who could blame him? It had been a very long day.

“Uh, Yeah! Sure thing.” With a wave of his hand, Sora turned out of the main control room and into a small hallway to their right, beckoning the others. “This ship has been renovated a lot since I first saw it a few years ago. It has all sorts of cool stuff now!”

He led his two companions excitedly into a cozy little room lined with bookshelves, a few computer screens, and a comfy looking chair or two. “This is a rec room kinda place. It's for when we are traveling a long way, and we need something to do.” He explained. “Riku has started getting in the habit of collecting books.”

Jason was already pacing around the walls, perusing the titles of books he had never even heard of. He concluded that this must have been because they were from different worlds. Then the thought struck him that the language the books were written in might not be English. Before he could check though, Nightwing was calling for him to follow as he and Sora left. Jason grudgingly obliged.

Sora began pointing out the living space of the ship further down the hallway. Both Jason and Dick were impressed with the size management of the place. Somehow, everything was compact, but designed in such a way that one felt cozy and at home instead of claustrophobic. The boys were surprised to find that they would even have their own rooms. They were admittedly small, but the revelation of not having to deal with Dick 24-7 relieved Jason immensely. Dick looked slightly disappointed though, but perked up when he realized the two rooms were right next to each other.

After exploring the rest of the ship, including a small kitchen, bathroom, storage area, and the main power generators, Jason found himself standing again in the main control room with all the others. He watched Dick laugh as the chipmunks ran up his arm and onto his shoulder with only the slightest shudder, due to extreme exhaustion. The surrealness of the entire situation was hitting him hard now. It hadn’t been so bad half an hour ago, maybe because of shock or adrenalin, but now he was having issues hiding how truly tired he was.

“Well, while this is exciting and all,” he said stretching for effect, “I think I'm gonna go get some sleep. I am seriously tired after everything that happened.”

He watched Dick, with his unmatchable energy, jumping on his toes and gazing over at Jason with the same concerned look he seemed to always carry these days. “That's probably a good idea.” He said. “You're looking a bit pale actually.”

Chip, who was riding on his shoulder, nodded in agreement. “I thought so too.”

“We probably all need sleep.” Riku put in. “But before any of that, I really think we should just run over our plans real quick.”

Jason sighed inwardly. “What plans? All we're really doing is traveling to see Yen Sid right?” He was starting to get a bit light headed. Wait. Did people get light headed when they were tired? Maybe if they were as exhausted as he was.

“Right.” Riku replied folding his arms. “But you and Nightwing need to know th-”

“S'cool if you use our names here. I'm sure these little guys can keep a secret.” Dick interrupted.

Riku shot the acrobat a glare which earned a half laugh, half yawn from Sora.

“Anyways, you guys need to know that it might not be so easy to get to Yen Sid. Heartless exist out here in the space between the worlds. We could be attacked and have to change our course, or we might have to stop at another world for supplies. “

Jason shrugged. “The main goal is still making it to this Yen Sid guy. So I don't really care what we do between now and then. If you need me to fight, I will be happy to oblige. But until then, I really need some sleep.”

This time no one argued as Jason trudged out of the cockpit, or at least they didn't say anything. He was too tired to notice their meaningful glances to one another. Slowly he made his way down the hall and to his room, eyes steadily drooping all the time. In truth he felt terrible. His head was pounding and his eyes were burning, despite the sunglasses. It was strange, he was all too used to lack of sleep, what with being a Bat and all. However, in all his years, he had never felt as crappy as he did now. Well, that one time when Ivy and Scarecrow had teamed up… He placed his hand on the door knob and stepped inside, stumbling slightly as his sight became doubled. He blinked hurriedly and his vision thankfully righting itself. Staggering forward, Jason fell onto his bed, letting the soft mattress and warm blankets engulf him. Without turning off the lights or changing into something more comfortable, he fell asleep. But just as the last strands of consciousness were leaving, he could have sworn he heard a very familiar buzzing echoing in his mind, You will regret this Jason Todd.

He was jumping off rooftops, soaring free through the air.

“Jason, wake up!”

He could feel the cool wind rushing through his hair, and he sprouted wings so he could follow it.

“Jason!! Seriously, it's been a day. Get your lazy butt out of bed!”

He was flying, looking down at billions of twinkling light in the city. His city.

“Jason! Seriously! Dude! How are you HUMAN!?”

Suddenly another figure came gliding up to meet him from below.

“Alright, I tried being nice. But you're giving me no choice.”

The figure was a huge bat, with razor teeth and glowing yellow eyes. He punched it.

“OW! Hey you did that on purpose!”

Jason and the bat were falling fast, plummeting to the earth below! And a soft something was smacking his face hard. And Jason opened his eyes and bolted into the reality of wakefulness, smacking his head on something hard in the process.

Eyes watering from both the light and the recent collision, Jason groaned and put a hand over his face. He heard another groan too. A familiar one. Sunglasses were pressed into his free hand, and after securing them snugly to his face, Jason felt safe enough to open his eyes again.

Dick was standing beside his bed, nursing a bloody lip. Ha! Served him right.

“Seriously Jay.” The older boy complained. “First you punch me in the lip, and then you headbutt me in the exact same place. Not cool.”

Mumbling incoherently, Jason fell back onto his pillow.

“Oh no you don't!”

In an instant, Jason's pillow was pulled out from under him. Sitting up, Jason gave his brother a death glare.

“I let you sleep for a really long time Jay. But now we are making lunch and you need to eat. So hurry and get up. Meet me in the kitchen in twenty minutes okay?”

Grunting his understanding Jason watched blearily as his brother left the room before getting ready. After a quick shower and a new set of clothes, he found himself walking towards the kitchen. Jason delighted to find that he was feeling much better this morning compared to the previous night. So those symptoms must have been exhaustion. Well, he still had a small headache, but the events of yesterday could do that to a person. For a moment the previous night, he could have sworn he'd heard...

Walking into the small eating area, Jason found Dick happily cooking with the help of the two squirrels. Acknowledging Dick’s exuberant wave with a halfhearted one of his own, he leaned against the wall and watched the three finish up their work. Within minutes, a steaming plate was put into his hands, containing a deliciously smelling omelet.

“You can make food like this in space?” He asked Dick who was now leaning against the wall next to him.

“I know, it's pretty amazing, right?!” he said, taking a bite out of his omelet. “Their space technology is worlds better then Earth’s. Haha, literally.”

Jason face-palmed.

“They have their own gravity field, and the whole thing is powered by some kind of replenishable energy I don't understand. But this whole ship is just incredibly advanced!”

Nodding, Jason took another bite of his own omelet. Despite being hungry and having a delicious plate of food in front of him, he was finding eating hard. Probably because of the guilt and responsibility he was feeling deep down for the fate of his planet... his family. Or maybe it was the hidden fear of his darkness twisting in his stomach. However, Jason was smart enough to know when to eat, and forced himself to finish the entire meal as Dick chatted on happily. Unlike most occasions, Jason was actually finding he didn't mind his brother’s cheerful one sided conversation much. Just hearing a happy voice with hope in it was a comfort.

Riku stepped into the kitchen to put away his dishes. “Good, you're both about done. You two better come to the control room. There's something I need to show you.”

They followed him, stopping when they saw what was out the window. It looked like a rock sticking skyward. On the underside was a cluster of trees and an elephant skull. “That’s Pride Lands. Gotham was pretty far out, so we have to stop for a bit.” Riku explained briefly. “The ship doesn’t need refueling really, but it does need to cool down for a bit.”

“Wait,” Dick held up a hand, clearly confused. Sora popped in at that moment, wearing the outfit he had been when he'd landed in Gotham, and seemed strangely happy to see Dick’s expression. “We’re landing there? Is it a world?”

“Yup!” Seriously, why was Sora so happy?

“Do they all look like that?”

“Of course not!” Riku moved over to the computer and pulled up a few images. “This is Agrabah,” something shaped a bit like a teapot with a city on the lid and a black tiger head on the bottom, “Port Royal,” a ship with a skull and crossbones beneath it, “ and Disney Castle,” a white castle with a smattering of red buildings beneath it. “There’s a bunch more, but you get the idea.”

Jason held a hand to his face for a moment. Nothing about this made sense. If Tim were here, he would be pointing out the scientific impossibilities each of those worlds had, like how none of them were big enough for an atmosphere. As for him, well, he figured it would be faster just to accept it. So he shrugged and said “Alright. Anything we should know before landing?”

Sora thought a moment. “If Donald were here, you could change into animals, to fit in better.” Just accept it Jason. Explanations can wait. “I don’t know that spell though. Last time, my clothes did it for me, so I could turn into a lion if I wanted.”

Plopping himself into the captain’s chair, Riku started the landing sequence. “Shouldn’t matter. We aren’t staying long. We probably won’t even run into anyone.” The other Keyblade Wielder pouted a bit at this, obviously hoping to do just that.

The ship, as Riku explained it, didn’t actually land on places. Instead, it hovered while the occupants were teleported to the surface with some magic or another. The engines on minimum power, to cool down faster, the four of them teleported to the surface. Blinking spots from his eyes, Dick could only stare in shock at the change. What had been, from space, a completely strange looking world which shouldn’t exist, looked kind of... Earthy, from the ground. The sky was blue, there were trees and a single sun and dirt and dried grass growing everywhere. Actually, it looked a bit like Africa. There were even zebra grazing in the distance. So Dick asked, “Are we back on Earth? Cause this looks a lot like Earth.”

“Nope,” Sora replied immediately, “these are the Pride Lands. You know, with lions and hyenas and stuff.”

“We have lions and hyenas on Earth. Elephants too.”

“Yeah, but this is different.”

“I’m confused.”

“And I am glad it’s not me this time. Seriously, Gotham was a really weird place.” Oh, so that’s why he had been happy earlier. Dick rolled his eyes, still hidden behind the sunglasses. He was really glad he had those actually. The sun was bright here.

Letting his gaze roam, he was surprised to find Jason firmly planted under a tree. Normally, he would be pacing, or exploring, or something. So, he casually strolled over to his brother. “What’s up Little Wing?”

His sunglasses were firmly planted on his face, so Dick couldn’t see his eyes, but his posture was stiff, nervous. After a moment, he finally mumbled, almost too quiet for Dick to hear, “Reminds me of Ethiopia a bit.”

The very warm day suddenly turned chilly. Now more than ever, Dick wished he could hug his brother, not to rid him of the darkness, but of this memory. Ethiopia, where he had been beaten senseless by the Joker and then blown up. He had died and come back a Nobody. But Dick couldn’t. Not without hurting him. So he just sat next to Jason, shoulders touching, trying to show as much comfort as he could through this limited touch. I’m glad you’re here. I won’t let you be taken from me again. And they sat, in silence, with a world of words said between them.

Hey, if we're the undead, do we need to breathe? Because if we didn't, that would be really useful in space, Just saying.

Whoo! Necrobumping! Much fun. Seriously, we have 100 posts to go. Can we just finish this? It's starting to rot.