KINGDOM HEARTS DX
Chapter 1: The Game Begins
16-year-old Akira Minamino was running down the streets towards where his friend was waiting for him.
"Why the heck did Kimiko make me wake up at 6:00 a.m. on the first day of summer?!" he thought as he ran. "This had better be important."
He made a turn at the next corner and saw his friend waiting at the end of the street. She was wearing a black skirt and a blue, sleeveless top. She also wore black boots. Her jet-black hair was tied back into a ponytail. Her blue eyes were glaring impatiently towards Akira.
"You're late!" she exclaimed angrily. "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago!"
Akira stopped in front of his friend. He began to catch his breath.
"Sorry…I…had…to…eat…breakfast," Akira panted.
"Breakfast is no excuse for being late!" Kimiko shouted. "I'm about to show you something amazing!"
"What's so important that you had to wake me up this early?" Akira asked.
Instead of replying, Kimiko grabbed Akira's arm and dragged him into a nearby building. As they entered, Akira got a glimpse of the logo on the building. On the front of the building was a blue outline of a heart with a K and H in front of it. At the top of the heart was a small crown.
Kimiko dragged Akira through the front lobby of the building and to the receptionist.
"Welcome to Kingdom Hearts," the woman sitting behind the receptionist's desk said. "How may I help you?"
"Kingdom Hearts?" Akira asked.
"It's an awesome virtual-reality online game that was invented in Paragon Industries!" Kimiko exclaimed. "It connects game stations from around the globe together into one big game. This station came out a couple of weeks ago."
"That explains why she was sleepy during the final exams," Akira thought.
"Do you both have your Kingdom Keys?" the receptionist asked.
"Kingdom Keys?" Akira asked.
"They're kinda like memory cards for the game," Kimiko said. "It holds all of your character data. It also allows you to enter the game. No key, no game. Here's mine."
Kimiko dug in her pockets and pulled out a small pink key. Carved into the base of the key was the same logo that was on the front of the building. She then showed her key to the receptionist.
"My friend is a new player," Kimiko said. "He needs a key."
"Alright," the receptionist said. "I'll just need to input your information. Eye-color: brown. Hair-color: dark-brunette. Name and height:…"
She looked at Akira questioningly.
"Oh!" Akira realized. "Akira Minamino. 5 ft. 10 in."
The receptionist continued typing information into her keyboard. Akira just stared as she continued typing for what seemed like forever.
"And…done!" the receptionist said. She then pulled out a blue key. "Here is your Kingdom Key."
As Akira took his key, he stared at it. The same logo was carved into the base of his. He flipped it around and saw his name carved into the other side.
"Cool," Akira said.
"Take the elevator to the 5th floor," the receptionist continued. "There are two empty pods up there."
"Pods?" Akira asked.
Before he knew it, Kimiko had grabbed his arm once again and was dragging him towards a nearby elevator. Once inside, Kimiko pressed a button with the number 5 on it. The elevator began to rise up. When the elevator stopped, the door opened. Akira looked ahead as far as he could see. The entire room was just a hallway with hundreds of pods all along the side. Inside the pods were other kids and teens with their faces covered by a mask of some sort.
"The pods should be…here!" Kimiko exclaimed.
Kimiko found two empty pods that were next to each other. Kimiko pressed a red button that was on the left pod. The glass window on the pod opened up and she stepped inside.
"Get in yours," she said as the lid to hers closed.
Akira walked over to the right pod and found the same red button. He pressed it, and the pod opened up. Like Kimiko, he stepped inside the pod. The moment he got inside, the lid closed. A strange screen appeared on the glass of his lid.
"Welcome," a digital voice said. "Insert your key into the slot."
Akira looked around and found a key-slot to his right that resembled that of a car. He stuck the key inside and turned it. The slot lit up with a blue light. The screen then changed.
"Welcome, new player," the voice continued. "You are about to experience the latest in gaming technology. Kingdom Hearts is a virtual-reality game that will separate your mind temporarily from your body. A download mask will appear before you. Please place it on."
An opening appeared to his left. A mask emerged from inside. Akira did just what the voice told him. The moment he placed the mask on, the voice continued.
"Data Dive will now commence in 3…2…1," the voice finished.
Akira felt a strange sensation as the world completely blacked-out. The next thing he knew, he was flying through a strange blue vortex.
"This is cool!" Akira said. "It feels so real!"
The end to the vortex came closer and closer until Akira flew right through it. He landed softly onto a glass-like floor. On the floor was the image of a strange boy. He had spiky hair and a giant key. He was surrounded by the images of other strange people: a silver-haired boy, a red-haired girl, a duck, and a dog. The glass was stained green.
"This is strange," Akira said to himself.
"Step forward," a mysterious voice said.
Akira did as the voice said. Akira saw as three stone pillars magically appeared around him. On the pillars were three weapons: a sword, a shield, and a staff.
"If you give it form…it will give you strength," the voice continued. "Choose well."
Akira began to think.
"So I can only choose one," Akira said. "Well…heroes usually wield swords. I'll take that."
Akira walked towards the sword and picked it up.
"The power of the warrior," the voice continued. "Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?"
"Sure," Akira said.
The three pillars disappeared along with the remaining two weapons. The floor then shattered. Akira screamed as he fell downwards. He landed onto a purple glass floor…this time, not as softly.
"That hurt," Akira groaned as he rubbed his butt in pain.
This glass floor was the same as the other one, except stained purple instead of green. He looked around and saw that dark pools began to form on the ground.
"There will be times you have to fight," the voice continued. "Keep your light burning strong!"
The dark pools took form. They became strange black creatures with yellow eyes and long antennae.
"What?!" Akira exclaimed.
The monsters charged straight for him. Akira swiped at them with his sword. He managed to slice through them easily. As he sliced the creatures, they vanished. He continued to fight them off one-by-one until they all disappeared.
"This is fun," Akira said. "It's like I'm actually fighting them!"
Meanwhile, back in reality, a young woman in a white lab-coat was watching a screen. She had blonde hair tied back in a bun and blue eyes. She wore glasses over her eyes. The screen showed many versions of the same map. Each map was of the area that Akira was in and had pod numbers underneath them.
"The tutorial program is going smoothly," she said to another of the programmers.
A man in a white lab-coat walked over to her. He had slicked-back, light-brown hair and brown eyes. He was watching the screen. He watched as the yellow player-dots were destroying the black enemy-dots.
"Man," he said. "Are we sure these kids are newbies, Carmen? They're kicking ass."
"The tutorial program is meant to be easy, Jacob" Carmen said. "That's why it's called the Tutorial program."
"Right," Jacob said.
Back in the game, Akira watched as a door appeared at the end of the platform.
"I guess I go through there," Akira said.
Akira walked towards the door. The moment he reached it, however, the door disappeared.
"What the?" Akira said.
He then turned around and saw a set of stairs climbing upwards.
"I guess I go up," Akira said.
Akira walked towards the stairs and began to climb up it. Back in the real world, the two programmers were watching the screen.
"Check that out," Jacob said.
They were watching the screen that said "pod 124." The player-dot was walking away from the blue door-dot.
"Isn't he supposed to go into the door?" Jacob continued.
"That's strange," Carmen said. "I'll send him a message."
She typed on her keyboard, but pod 124's screen changed into static.
"His pod became unresponsive!" Carmen shouted.
"Get that kid out of there!" Jacob exclaimed.
"Do you know the meaning of unresponsive?!" Carmen asked angrily.
"Then what do we do?" Jacob asked.
"Call Mr. Paragon," Carmen answered. "Maybe he'll know what to do."
Meanwhile, Akira was climbing up the stairs. He climbed higher and higher until he reached the top. He stepped onto yet another platform like the previous two. This one was stained red. Akira looked as a light appeared before him. As he walked towards the light, his shadow grew larger and larger.
"The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes," the mysterious voice said.
Akira turned around and saw that his shadow was rising up. It began to take the shape of a gigantic, black creature.
"But don't be afraid. And don't forget."
Akira began to run towards the stairs. The moment he reached the staircase, it disappeared. Akira found that he had no choice but to fight."
The monster slammed its fist towards Akira. Akira managed to dodge the punch, but a dark puddle formed around the monster's fist. Small black creatures rose up from the puddle. Akira began to slice at the monster's fist as well as the little creatures. After all of the smaller creatures were gone, Akira ran up the giant's arm and jumped up above it. He then sliced down onto its head. The monster roared with pain as Akira's attack landed. Akira landed on the ground in front of the monster.
"Ready for Round 2?!" Akira asked.
Just then, his sword disappeared.
"Don't go now!" Akira screamed fearfully at his unarmed hand.
A dark puddle appeared below him. Akira slowly began to sink into the puddle.
"But don't be afraid," the voice said once again. "You hold the mightiest weapon of all."
The darkness completely engulfed him.
"So don't forget: You are the one who will open the door to light…"