And now we arrive in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Expect big things to happen in this Book – revelations, new additions, the works! Read and enjoy!
Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha (Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Shion, the "Keiichi Crew") – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen
Shuffle! (Kaede Fuyō, Rin, Asa & Ama, Sia & Nerine, Primula) – Navel and Asread
Erika's New Perfume (Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – Deviant-Art artist Lance the Young
Mai-chan's Daily Life (Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga
Star Wars (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm
Halo (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie and 343 Industries
StarCraft (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment
Naruto (jutsu, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto
Mahō Sensei Negima (spells, abilities, characters) – Ken Akamatsu
Kingdom Hearts (Keyblades, the concept of Nobodies (Laicixa), Aqua, other characters and concepts and things in this book) – Square-Enix
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Mana Kirishima, other characters) – Studio Gainax
Elfen Lied (Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms
Red vs. Blue (The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE & CHARACTER PAGES
-BOOK 14 START-
Mysterious Tower – 10:00 PM
Master Yen-Sid sat at his desk, going over one of his old tomes before bed. Sora and Riku were due here tomorrow to receive their assignments; he would be sending them to the Realm of Sleep, for their Mark of Mastery exams. He'd already finished the essential preparations, so now he was just killing time. The old man sighed as he came across an old picture used as a forgotten bookmark: Eraqus and Xehanort as young men, fresh from achieving their Marks of Mastery. He closed his eyes and hung his head; such promise, and yet look how things had turned out.
He was interrupted from his musings by one of the devices on his desk chiming and blinking. It was a magical artifact that allowed secure communication between Keyblade-Wielders, across interstellar and inter-realm distances. Had Mickey encountered a snag, or any new intel on Xehanort? He keyed in a sequence of runes on the hand-sized device, and a holographic screen popped up. However, rather than showing his most recent student, the screen showed a man who looked to be in his 50s, with crew-cut black hair (with a hint of grey), wearing a military uniform.
"Greetings, and sorry for disturbing you, Master Yen-Sid" the man said. "I am Colonel Urban Holland, and I represent a multi-dimensional coalition of various space-faring civilizations, with many magic-users among our ranks. We have been fighting a mysterious dark enemy, and we seek your wisdom on certain affairs."
"What exactly makes you think I can help you, Colonel?" the wizened old wizard asked.
"Amongst our mages are five Keyblade Wielders, and our enemy has recently begun fielding Heartless and Unversed; also, one of our enemy's highest-ranking individuals is an evil Keyblade Wielder."
Yen-Sid's eyes widened. "I see. Well, that certainly warrants my attention. But how did you know about me?"
"Two ways, sir. The first is that, in the various realms we've been to, there have been cases where one realm's events have possessed fictional counterparts in other realms; a precious few of our personnel have seen such media in their home realms, centering around the boy named Sora."
Yen-Sid couldn't help but smile a little. "So that boy is a known hero even in realms where he does not exist…"
"And the other source is… Well, after the first of our Keyblade-Wielders awakened her weapon, an elite team of mages traveled into the Realm of Darkness. There, they rescued three individuals, two of which wield Keyblades. And one of those…"
He stepped aside… and Yen-Sid's jaw dropped open just a little bit as someone who was supposed to be dead stepped into view.
"Hello, Master Yen-Sid" Aqua said, bowing. "It's good to see you again."
"Aqua…" he murmured. "So when you defeated Xehanort, you fell into the Darkness rather than being killed. And you survived 11 years in that terrible realm?"
"Not alone, Master, but yes. I befriended the other two dimensional refugees, and a couple of months ago the others came to that Realm and found us." She smiled. "I lead a special-ops team now. …Other than me, there are four other Keyblade Wielders in the coalition. Three are young – one 9, one 11, and one 12 – and I have taken them as students; the fourth is my age, that is if you discount the 11 years I spend in the Realm of Darkness, where people don't age, but she already had considerable swordsmanship experience before awakening her Keyblade, so she didn't require as much tutoring."
She took a deep breath.
"We'd like your input on the matters we're presently involved in. …That, and I'd like to see Mickey again, and maybe see if Sora and Riku remember me from when they were four."
"Well, I have called Sora and Riku to be brought here to be given the details of their Mark of Mastery exams. And King Mickey is escorting them here. How soon will you be here?"
Aqua turned to someone off-screen, talking for a few seconds. She turned back to Yen-Sid. "About 10 hours, Master" she replied.
"I await your arrival then, my dear. See you then."
Conversation continued for a few more minutes between Col. Holland and the old Keyblade Master. As the link was terminated, Master Yen-Sid sat back in his chair. Things had just become much more interesting.
-SCENE BREAK-
Mysterious Tower – Next Morning
Master Yen-Sid stood outside his tower, alongside Sora, Riku, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy (and of course, Jiminy). Any minute now, their mysterious dimensional traveler visitors would arrive; Yen-Sid had already told the others about them, and they were excited to meet the newcomers.
There was a flash of blue up above in the sky, as a massive construct – grey and silver with glowing blue portions – appeared from an inter-realm rift.
"Whoa…" Sora said as he stared up at the massive ship. "It's huge!"
"1600 meters from bow to stern" Yen-Sid replied. "That's about 5,250 feet, in case you don't know Metric. The Starshot, a warship left behind by an advanced ancient race over 100,000 years ago, kept in pristine condition by the automated systems in the subspace pocket realm that a particularly precognitive member of its constructor race placed it in. …Supposedly this coalition has ships many times larger than this one, including one class of ship that is around six-and-a-half times the length."
Before long, a few objects could be seen flying down from the ship, heading toward the rather hard-to-miss landmark that was Yen-Sid's Tower. A pair of Sangheili Alliance Type-52 'Phantom' dropships, their green and purple armor plating shining in the morning sun, hovered over the area, slowly descending. They took position about 25 feet off the ground, and the gravity lifts on their undersides came to life. A significant number of people descended from the two craft – Col. Holland, Shipmaster Arum, Erohn Kilkar, Kanba Kanade, Gamma Team, Sigma Team, Theta Team, and the TSAB Group (Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, the Wolkenritter, and Precia).
"Aqua!" King Mickey shouted joyously. "It's true! You're alive!"
"Your Majesty" Aqua smiled in reply. "It's good to see you again."
Then she turned her attention to Sora and Riku, remembering seeing & hearing what they'd done thanks to Marie, Fate, and Chisame.
"My, you two have certainly grown since I last saw you. Do you remember me?"
"Vaguely" Riku replied. "Though Master Yen-Sid told us about you, Terra, and Ventus – how Master Xehanort's plot destroyed your lives; Xehanort killed your Master Eraqus, stole Terra's body, cast you into the Realm of Darkness, and… did something to Ventus…"
Aqua's expression changed just a little, and her eyes drifted to Sora. 'So even Master Yen-Sid doesn't really know…' she thought.
"Is it really true that we have fictional counterparts in your worlds?" Sora asked.
"Only a few of them" Aqua replied. "Apparently, the series is called 'Kingdom Hearts', and it's fairly popular in the worlds it exists in. Marie and Fate are the only ones here right now who've played it, though."
The short green-eyed brunette and the tall red-eyed blonde waved hello.
"So…" Master Yen-Sid said. "Who are our four other Keybladers?"
In response, Laicixa, Fate, Kanba, and Erika stepped forward, each of them summoning their Keyblades. Goofy looked back & forth between Fate and Laicixa.
"Gawrsh, I'm bettin' you two're sisters, right?" he asked.
"Yes" Fate replied.
"I believe I should point out something, Master" Aqua said to Yen-Sid. "It seems your 'Nobodies are all Heartless and emotionless' hypothesis is wrong."
"Oh?" the old man said. "What makes you say that?"
"Because Laicixa there is a Nobody, and yet we have proven that she possesses a full Heart of her own."
Yen-Sid walked up to Laicixa, closing his eyes as he extended his magical senses. "She's right" he said with slight astonishment. "I can sense the sudden life-force signature of a Nobody, yet you plainly have a true, full Heart of your own."
"I didn't at first" the young girl replied. "When I first came into being, I was without a Heart. However, my original – Fate's sister Alicia – had strong Light in her Heart, and a portion of her personality – especially her altruism – was 'copy-pasted' to me, as was her latent ability to manifest a Keyblade, which I eventually awakened. I soon afterward met Mother and Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, and my time spent with them, connecting to their Hearts, allowed me to spontaneously form a Heart of my own. Apparently, the same will happen for any sapient-form Nobody that is able to forge connections with the Hearts of others; Roxas and Axel both developed Hearts during their existences. …Do know, however, that the Lesser Nobodies, the shifting white beings with no true mind, are forever without Hearts; they lack the intelligence to forge bonds with others."
"Of course," Sora said, "that's leaving out what Master Yen-Sid told us recently, about how if a person becomes a Heartless and becomes a Nobody, and then both are destroyed, the original whole person comes back to life. That's why he has us taking our Mark of Mastery exams, in the hope that we'll be ready by the time Xehanort surfaces."
"Correct. …We do not know the fate of my original's Heart. However, I do not believe her Heart has become a Heartless; I have a feeling we'd know. So no destroying it and me to bring her back."
"And even if that would work," Precia added, walking up behind Laixica and placing hands on her shoulders, "we would find another way. I will not sacrifice one of my daughters to save another of them; I could never make such a terrible choice."
"Shall we head inside?" Master Yen-Sid said. "We should have a seat as we discuss further matters."
-SCENE BREAK-
Yen-Sid's Tower – Common Room
70 Minutes Later
The myriad of guests sat together in the magically-enlarged room, seated on supernaturally-comfortable cushy chairs and couches. Everyone had introduced themselves already; the existence of so many more realms than he'd previously assumed left Sora amazed. The kids of Theta Team sat close together on one of the couches; nobody had said anything bad upon learning of Erika & Mariko's 'little problem', but they still sat in ways to attempt to hide what was under their skirts.
The group gave descriptions of their encounters with their mysterious dark/demonic foe; the precious little knowledge of the mysterious black-cloaked evil Keyblade dual-Wielder who called herself Ruin, the basics of the enemy's types of soldier; the encounter with Heartless and Unversed under the enemy's command; and the recent battle against a possessed avatar of the unknown leader of this dark threat.
"So…" Sora said. "You guys haven't even figured out what these guys want, or even what they are?"
"That's about the size of it" Teana replied wearily.
"And then there's other enemies to worry about" Col. Holland said. "Pirates, Mengsk's Dominion, the Zerg, remnants of Parangosky's projects, the Covenant Remnant is still hiding somewhere out there, and when we were on our way here we received word that a Sangheili rebel extremist named Parg Vol recently broke from the Sangheili Alliance with a cadre of loyal followers and left the system, stealing several Alliance warships in the process. We certainly have our hands full."
"We will help however we can" Master Yen-Sid said. "Though I fear we can presently offer little more than training and advice; Xehanort must be our present main focus, I'm afraid."
"We understand" Shipmaster Arum replied. "We will gladly accept whatever help you can offer us."
"We're probably going to set up base camp at Radiant Garden" Marie said. "It's sort of a 'Hub World' in this realm-plane, from what we can tell."
"Very well" the old mage said. "I will keep in contact with you while Sora and Riku are away in the Realm of Sleep."
They stayed a little while longer, before the coalition forces had to head out, while Sora & Rika made final preparations for their Mark of Mastery exams. Soon, the Starshot could be seen exiting this realm.
-SCENE BREAK-
Radiant Garden – 80 Minutes Later
"Wow~" Erika said, looking all around. "T-This place is beautiful!"
"There's a reason that call it Radiant Garden, kiddo" Marie replied.
"We don't wanna ruin the aesthetics of this place…" Col. Holland said. "We should just set up a teleportation array between a certain spot and the ship. And we should make it a Sangheili design; they're good at making things that are both pretty and functional."
"Hee~ey~!" a girl's voice called out. "So you guys are the newcomers Yen-Sid called us about, huh?"
The presently-groundside group looked to see a young woman with short black hair and revealing clothes running up, a fūma shuriken strapped to her back. Following in her wake were a man wearing black leather with brown hair and what looked like a sword with a gun for a hilt, a young man in black with spiky blond hair and a huge sword slung across his back, a girl in a pink dress with long brown hair, an older man with spiked-up brown hair and a toothpick in his mouth, and an old man wearing blue robes and a pointy blue hat.
"I'm Yuffie!" the young kunoichi introduced herself. "Chūnin of the Kisaragi Clan!"
"Name's Leon" the man in black said.
"I'm Cloud" the guy with the big sword introduced.
"I am Aerith" the girl in pink said.
"Name's Cid" the older man said.
"And I am Merlin" the old man said. "Oh, I can sense such powerful magic amongst most of you, as well as something I can't quite put my finger on. Hmm… Ki manipulation?"
"Yes" Teana replied. "A lot of us use both magic and chakra, which is also known as ki. …How much did Master Yen-Sid fill you guys in on?"
"Enough" Leon replied. "We have our sentries on the lookout for any Heartless, Unversed, and any of those 'Demon' things you guys've run into."
"So…" Cloud said. "I hear a few of you are swordsmen. Leon and I were thinking… Would any of you like to spar?"
Teana and Ahsoka looked to each other and grinned.
-SCENE BREAK-
Radiant Garden – Local Park
45 Minutes Later
Timmy Randall sat on a bench, munching on a sandwich he'd made for himself earlier. The others were off doing their own thing. He leaned back, looking up at the pretty sky… and his vision was suddenly filled with a fair-skinned face with long brown hair and pretty eyes, looking down at him upside-down.
"Enjoying your stay?" Aerith asked with a light giggle.
"Y-Yeah" the boy replied, his deep-green eyes following the young woman as she sat next to him on the bench. "This place is beautiful."
"Your little girlfriends Erika and Mariko have said the same thing. At length. …They're so cute. You're lucky to have them."
"Yeah…" he said wistfully, a smile on his face. "I really am… I love those two so much."
"And they love you. I can tell. And it's a good thing they love each other just as much, so they don't fight over you." She grinned mischievously. "Though I bet you'd kinda like seeing that – two pretty and cute girls tussling with each other, their clothes being gradually torn away in front of you…"
"Actually, I…" Timmy blushed. "I've seen them naked. We've bathed together a lot. And I've changed Erika's diaper quite a few times, and Mariko's a handful of times too. And they've seen me naked too; as I said, we bathe together usually. We're pretty comfortable with each other, and with Erio & Caro, to the point where Erika & Mariko will let those two change them if necessary. It's one of the reasons we're on a team together. It didn't take long after Laicixa was made team leader for her to reach that level of comfort and familiarity with us, too. She's changed Erika a couple times, and I've… c-caught her staring at my butt a few times when we're all in the baths… and at Erio's… and at Caro's once."
Aerith giggled as she petted him on the head, stroking his soft black hair. "You're all really cute together, and you make each other happy. I think that's wonderful. And little Erika actually managed to manifest her Keyblade out of her desire to protect you? I'd call that solid proof of how much she loves you."
The boy blushed, though his smile widened. "Yeah…"
"Timmy~!"
The boy turned just in time for Mariko to run up to him with a light tackle-hug. She giggled as he hoisted her into his lap with a faint rustle/crinkle, and she straddled his lap facing him. She planted a quick kiss on his lips, and then snuggled up against him, arms around him. Aerith's smile widened at the cuteness, especially when Timmy returned the embrace, and she gave a content sigh.
"Where're the others?" Timmy asked.
"Erika an' Caro are at the local arcade," Mariko replied, "tryin' to win some cute plushies at the Crane Game. Laicixa and Erio are sparring, showin' their stuff to Cloud and Leon. And I'm right here, in a huggle-snuggle with you."
"I love having two cuddle-bugs for girlfriends" the boy sighed out happily. Mariko made a happy little giggle in response.
-SCENE BREAK-
Starshot Slipspace Translocation Terminal Room
Same Day – 7:30 PM
The slipspace portal oscillated slightly as Ala Alba stepped through, closing behind them for the moment.
"So we're actually in the Kingdom Hearts universe now…" Chisame said. "Awesome!"
"This should be fun" Chizuru added.
Negi, Nodoka, Yue, and Haruna immediately made a beeline for Ahsoka, forming a five-person group hug with her at the center. The group's tall kunoichi, meanwhile, made a path for a certain hot-pink-haired girl.
"At last we meet, fellow Kaede" Nagase said with a joking grin on her face.
"As if it weren't hard enough to get used to with Fuyō" Kanade replied, her own smile betraying the fact that it didn't bother that much.
"We should have a get-together" Fuyō said as she walked up. "Maybe have dinner together or something."
"Good idea!" Nagase replied. "Kaede, you find us a place to eat. Kaede, you help Kaede. While I, Kaede, shall fetch the entertainment!"
"Yes, Kaede!" the other two chorused, giggling.
As the three went off to do their own thing, the others of Ala Alba were settling in.
"Thanks for coming by, you guys" Teana said. "I have a feeling we might need your help."
"We would've been here an hour ago," Konoka replied, "but… well, Chisame-chan wanted 'one for the road' with Negi just in case we didn't have any time for that kinda stuff here."
"I c-can't help it if I have a healthy adolescent sex drive" the glasses girl replied, blushing and looking a bit peeved.
Haruna grinned and rolled her eyes. 'Healthy adolescent sex drive', her perfectly-shaped ass! Chisame had the highest libido out of any of Negi's girls, and compared to Ayaka, Nodoka, and Setsuna, that was saying something. Fortunately, the cute little grump swung both ways, and thus Chizuru, Kazumi, and Haruna herself could keep Chisame 'satisfied' if Negi was too busy.
"It seems all quiet on the western front right now" Asuna remarked.
"That never lasts long" Shion replied. "You guys had better be prepared to jump into a scrap at a moment's notice."
"With the kind of stuff that happens to us?" Yue replied. "We're always prepared for an out-of-nowhere fight."
"Let's just hope things don't go pear-shaped too soon" Teana said. "I'd actually like to relax for a bit."
"Hey, Marie" Sarah said.
"Yeah, sis?"
"Shouldn't we keep practicing our new combo move?"
"Oh, yeah! We should! And there's plenty of empty badlands outside the city where we can do it too, even! Let's go!"
As the sisters ran off, Teana startled as she felt a warm body wrap itself around her from behind.
"Tonight" Subaru whispered in her ear. "You, me, and Fuyō."
Teana blushed and smiled. "'Kay" she replied.
-CHAPTER END-
And thus we begin the first chapter of a Book that will reveal more than one Big Secret. Stay tuned!