Chapter 1
Ezo and Gin sat on the top of the tower in twilight town, eating ice cream. It was their usual hang out spot for the end of the day. They always hung out like this, since they where kids. Gin was sitting on the edge dangling his legs, while Ezo was standing with his back leaning against the wall and one of his hands in his pocket.
"Man, look at all of those colors…" said Ezo staring at the sky.
"What about them?"
"It's just that there are so many of them…..and there are even more that we can't see with the naked eye. They all come together to form this picture."
"Hm, I guess." Gin seemed a bit uninterested.
"Ha-ha, that's just like you." said Ezo with a smirk on his face. He took a large bite of his ice cream bar, and very shortly after, starting to rub his temples in pain. "Agh, brain freeze!!"
Gin laughed. "That's just like YOU; to take a huge bite out of your ice cream without thinking of the brain freeze!"
Ezo narrowed his eyes and then smiled. "I just forgot for a second, that's all!" he laughed. They sat there quietly for a second. Ezo looked over to Gin to see his brown hair sort of glow in the sunlight. Gin had neck-length, brown hair. In all honesty, he envied Gin's hair a little, but he was happy with his own hair. Ezo's hair was a jet black color, and slightly spiky, with three bangs hanging over his forehead, but leaving his eyes visible. "Hey…."
"Yeah?" Gin asked. He couldn't help but notice Ezo's eyes. They where a deep, almost emerald green color. He always thought Ezo's eyes where cool. They where unique, maybe even one-of-a-kind, and Gin was always jealous o them. He just had normal blue eyes. He remembered Ezo always getting complemented on his eyes by a bunch of girls when they where in town. People complemented his eyes too, but not as much, since they always said that Ezo's eyes "where complemented by his hair".
"How about we head to the arcade tomorrow? You can kick my ass at DDR, and I can kick yours at air hockey, and maybe one of those shooting games. It's been a while since we've been."
"Sure, it sounds like fun!" Gin was a little confused. Most of the time, He had always suggested what to do, and Ezo just followed without objection. But he guessed it was nice for input form Ezo once in a while.
"Cool. Well, I'd better get going. It's getting late" Ezo headed towards the door and down the stairs.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow!" Of course, Ezo was almost gone by the time Gin was finished saying good-bye, but he knew Ezo heard him. Gin figured he should leave soon, too.
Ezo heard Gin say good-bye as he went down the clock tower's staircase. He was hoping to mask his worry from Gin the entire day. It was difficult, but it seemed as if he didn't notice anything.
The Next Day
Gin woke up the next morning feeling energized. He ate his breakfast, showered and headed out the door. He knew Ezo would be at the arcade before him. He was always early to whatever they did, even if Gin was the one who suggested it. "Early bird get's the worm!" Ezo always said. Gin reached the arcade; only see Ezo waiting for him with that smirk of his.
"Well, you're finally here" Said Ezo. "Ready?"
Gin nodded. They started with a few racing games, but moved on to DDR. Of course, Gin was much more skillet at it than Ezo. They played 6 games, and every time, Gin won. He was much more energetic than Ezo, so it was easy for him, in contrast to Ezo, who always seemed to struggle and couldn't coordinate his feet with the arrows on the screen. Gin thought it was nice to have the upper hand on something. Plus, he had a DDR game at home to practice.
"Dang, how do you do that?" asked Ezo in confusion.
"I guess I just practice a lot" Gin was glad that he was better than Ezo at something. But he knew they would eventually move on to something much harder.
"Okay, Okay. Ready for some air hockey?" Gin nodded and the two headed over to the air hockey table. They had to wait for a while for the two people that where already there, but once they started, the pummeling began. Gin just couldn't seem to hit the puck on time. Every movement Ezo made was swift and powerful. He was on fire.
"Oh man, how did you get so good?"
"Hmmmm. I guess I just 'practice'" Ezo laughed. The rest of the day continued in a mix of results similar to their game of DDR and results similar to their game of air hockey. The two finally got tired and headed towards the candy shop to get some ice cream, and then to the clock tower at the station.
"I had a lot of fun today, Ezo." said Gin as he watched his legs dangle off the edge of the tower, taking a few licks of his ice cream. "Thanks for inviting me."
"Hm? Oh, sure." Ezo was quiet most of the time. Gin could tell that something was wrong, and it was worrying him.
"Hey, you okay? You seem kind of quiet today."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, no problem…." The question had knocked Ezo out of his trance-like sate. This was exactly was he was trying to avoid; Gin was starting to get worried, and Ezo was starting to make it obvious. He smiled to try and hide his concerns. "I promise, everything is fine."
Gin frowned for a second and then shrugged. "Okay, if you say so." Gin went back to swinging his legs and biting his ice cream. Inside he was still worried about Ezo, but he knew that even if he asked, Ezo wouldn't tell him. That was one thing the irritated Gin. Ezo NEVER let anyone know when something was wrong. He always tried to do everything on his own, and it worried Gin. He knew that Ezo didn't have any bad intentions, but he wished that he could help somehow.
"Well, I guess I'd better get going. Today kind of tired me out."
"Are you sure? It's still kind of early…."
"Yeah, I'm exhausted." Ezo got up and headed down the stairs. About a moment later, Gin watched Ezo leave the station, and head down station heights. Gin watched until Ezo was out of sight. Whatever it was, Gin was sure that Ezo would be okay. He had a way of figuring things out. He decided to leave and head home.
The Next Day
The next morning, Gin woke up feeling odd. He wasn't sure what exactly it was, but something….wasn't right. He got up and stretched, still a little tired. He went through his morning routine, and went out the door. Outside, he wasn't really sure what to do. He almost felt as if he was at a loss. He took out his cell phone and dialed Ezo's number. He waited several seconds while the phone rang. Soon, he got Ezo's recording. He figured that Ezo was just sleeping in, and decided to wake him up with s surprise visit. He proceeded to walk to Ezo's apartment, and on his way, he noticed that there where no people on the streets, unlike the usual crowd of people going about their various tasks.
He reached Ezo's apartment building and walked in. Even here, there where no people. He assumed that it was just early. He went up the elevator and reached Ezo's apartment. The door was unlocked. He found it strange, since Ezo, along with most people locked their doors overnight. He walked in.
"Knock, Knock!" Gin called. There was no answer. He walked into Ezo's room. Everything was spotless, as if no one had been there for a while, but there was no Ezo to be found. Now, he was worried. He hurried out of the apartment and out of the building. As he walked back the way he came, he started to notice more people around. He must've just woken up earlier than usual. But it was still unlike Ezo to be up and around this early. He decided to call Ezo again, but still received no answer. He continued his walk and reached the sandlot.
He looked around the sandlot and no one was there. He looked a distance away and saw what would be, at the time, the strangest, and maybe the scariest thing he had ever seen. There, in front of him, emerged a strange white creature form the ground. He looked in confusion at the strange creature. It looked like some kind of jacket or coat with a strange symbol on the top of the hood that danced around without a wearer. Soon after, three more of the creatures appeared in the same manner. He tried to run away, but they surrounded him. He tried to run through, but one of the creatures pushed him back, and he fell backwards. As he sat on the ground, still confused and frightened, one of the creatures sort of bent backwards getting ready to fly towards Gin in an attack. As it flew towards him, he put his hand in front of him and closed hi eyes, preparing for the worst. After a few seconds, nothing happened. He opened his eyes to see the creature almost completely stopped. And then, he saw the reason. In his hand, was what seemed to be a giant key. He stared at the large key. The long end was silver, with the tip of the key resembling a crown. The guards around the handle where golden, and at the bottom of the handle hung a chain with what looked like 3 circles at the end of it.
"W-what….what is this thing?" He had no time to think. The creature once again charged towards him. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that he had to do whatever he could to survive. He wasn't sure where this thing in his hand came from or even what it was, but it was the closest thing to a weapon. Without thinking, he swung the giant key at the creature, making contact. The creature flew back from the blow, showing pain. Gin stood up, holding the giant key as if for dear life.
The other creatures began to approach him, and he stood ready to fight. He and the creatures began to fight. With a series of swings, he finished the battle, and the creatures disappeared in flashes of blue and white mist. Gin was still confused, but he knew he had to keep moving. He proceeded up through station heights and to the station. He wasn't sure why he went to the station, but some something told him that he should be there. He looked up at the large clock tower, thinking about multiple things. What happened to Ezo? What where these strange things that kept attacking him, and what where they? He seemed to zone out, as he didn't notice the strange aura in the air. It was the same aura he felt when the monsters first attacked.
Several of the creatures emerged from before out of the ground once again, but this time, about 10 of them showed up. Gin griped his giant key and braced himself. He swung and slashed at the creatures eliminating each one that came towards him. He seamed to be destroying them at a good pace, but every time one was killed, another came in its place. He began to lose stamina. He was getting tired. He fell backwards on his rear end, exhausted from fighting. One of the creatures began to charge towards him. He held out his key, ready for whatever was about to happen……….except for what happened next.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a very short figure in black flew down in multiple flips and slashed at the creatures with astounding speed, exterminating them all. He stood there for a second; waiting for more to come, but no more emerged. Now that he was standing still, Gin could get a good look at him. He was very short, wearing a black hood, which covered his face, and had……big, round ears? But what he was holding shocked Gin more than the person's ears. It was another giant key, almost identical to Gin's. The only difference was that the long end of the person's key was golden and the guards around the handle where white.
"….Who are you?" Gin managed to blurt out.
"Ssssshhhhh." he put his finger over his lips, as if to tell Gin to be quiet. "I'm a friend, so don't worry. Right now, we don't have time for me to explain things, but here." He handed Gin a small pouch full of munny. "You've got to board the train and leave town. The train knows the way!" Before Gin could say anymore, the small figure quickly ran away towards station heights.
Gin stood there for a second, now more confused than ever before. Then he realized something: This person never told him WHICH train to take! He wasn't even sure if he should follow the strange person's instructions. After all, he was a stranger in a BLACK HOOD. But on the other hand, this person had saved his life, and seemed to know how to use that key better than Gin. He also knew that it was dangerous here, and decided to go. He walked into the station, and instantly, his problem of which train to take was eliminated. There was only one train in the entire station. It was a purple train covered in stars and had a large wizard's hat at the very front of the roof. There was nobody at the ticket booth to take his munny. He was starting to wonder why this didn't surprise him. He walked towards the train and the door opened automatically.
He hesitated to enter. Where would this train take him? Would he be able to return? What would he do after he got to his destination? All of these questions began to swirl around his head, and he began to turn around. He didn't have much time to think, because outside the doors, he saw more of the white creatures swarming around the entrance. He looked in utter horror as the creatures busted through the glass doors. He didn't have a choice. There where much more of them than last time, and he didn't think he'd be able to fight them all, so he ran into the train. He looked out of the window to see the creatures floating eerily towards the train. Gin was frightened, and he wanted the train to just move. "C'mon, go already!!" Soon, his wish was granted, and the train began to move, just as the creatures began to surround the locomotive.
He watched though the window as Twilight Town passed him by, building, by building. Soon, in a flash of green light, he was no longer in Twilight Town, but in some sort of abyss-like space. He turned around o face forward in his seat, and looked at his lap. He felt alone. There was no one here to talk to, and no Ezo to make him feel stronger. Soon the train stopped, and the Doors once again automatically opened as if to say "Get out!" He sighed and exited the vehicle.
He emerged to the vehicle to see that he was on some sort of floating island. It had a flat, grassy terrain, with a few trees scattered about. Gin was shocked. It might've been the fact that he was on a floating island, or the fact that there was a giant Tower looking down at him towards the end of the island. He walked over to the tower but stopped. He had stepped on what seemed to be a black spot on the ground. He starred down at it for a few seconds. The black spot soon grew two yellow dots. What happened next scared the crap out of Gin. The spot actually blinked at him! He jumped back in shock and fear. The black spot soon began to rise from the ground and take shape into a small black creature with yellow eyes and crooked antennas. This being was much shorter than the white creatures from before. Gin gripped his key as more began to emerge around him. He prepared for battle.
These where much weaker than the white creatures, as Gin was able to kill these with very little effort. An extra wave of the creatures emerged but where wiped out in very little time. After Gin killed the last creature, His Key disappeared in a flash of light
"What!? Where'd it go!?" Gin started to panic. His only weapon was gone now, but he had no choice but keep going. He opened the large double-doors of the tower, and walked in. Inside, there was a large staircase that led to a door. He began his climb up the stairs and went through the door. He entered into a large, round room with another door on the end of the room. On the door was a large, glowing arrow pointing upward. He began to walk towards the door, when half-way across the room, a group of black creatures emerged and circled him. He was worried, but before he could even think of what to do, his key reappeared in his hand in a flash of white light. He had no idea what was happening, but he decided it didn't matter right now, and began to slaughter the enemies. After the group of monsters was gone, he continued his walk out the door. On the other side of the door, was a sight that amazed him. The door opened up to a large green, winding staircase. Above him was another large staircase that just floated in the air, completely disconnected from anything. He proceeded up the staircase he was on, and came to a door. He went through, and on the other side was another room, similar to the previous one, with another large arrow pointing upward. And just like the previous room, several black creatures attacked him. He quickly wiped them out and proceeded through the door. Through the door was the second stair case, with a much larger door at the top of it. He ran up the stairs, eager to know what awaited him behind the door. He stopped at the door and took a deep breath, nervous at the outcome of his entrance.
He let go of his breath, and walked through the door. He entered into a large room with several bookcases, a desk, and a large chair. Sitting in the large chair was an old man with a long grey beard in a blue robe and wizard's hat. He looked at Gin and smiled.
"Ah, hello there, Gin. I've been expecting you…"
