A/N- No real spoilers for the game. I just wrote this because it was what crossed my mind at the time (I used my Pokemon's names for the spirit names btw). I'm getting back into writing Kingdom Hearts fics, so I hope to update/finish the other KH fics I have posted. The conversation points for Sora and Neku in this fic are likely out of order for humor purposes.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Kingdom Hearts series, nor the song mentioned in the fic.
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INFO: Sora and Riku's journey starts off shakily with a foe that should have remained dead and gone.
The battle with the phantom of Ursula had thrown our two heroes into the dark and fathomless depths of the Destiny Island Ocean. They sunk further and further into its clutches, about to be lost, when their Keyblades materialized at a convenient time and thus saved them from drowning, which would have made for a short and tragic journey.
As Sora, barely conscious, watched as his Keyblade unlock the Keyhole along with Riku's Keyblade, Sora wondered if perhaps they might have been warned about the potential dangers of drowning. As the light shined brightly, Sora's last coherent thought before he lost consciousness was the question of why he was always floating or flying through air or water. Symbolism, perhaps?
Riku was merely glad that it was not darkness that had threatened to end them. He too lost consciousness, as they were taken away from the dark depths of the ocean, to some unknown but certainly predetermined destination.
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Sora let out a gasp and flailed about, still believing himself to be in danger of drowning. After a few moments he realized that he was safe, and, in fact, quite dry despite being submerged in water for who knows how long. Sora let out a sigh of relief when he saw that he was in Traverse Town, and was therefore past the danger of being drowned out in the middle of nowhere.
Some good news was quite welcome, as Sora still didn't understand what he was meant to do, other than to unlock the sleeping worlds' keyholes. How could they be asleep anyway?
His outfit caught his attention, and Sora looked it over with a critical eye, "What the? My clothes changed? Huh, all right then, there must be a reason for it." Immediately losing interest, Sora took a cursory look about to see where he was in Traverse Town, before letting out a sudden gasp of horror. Running toward the railing of the second floor of the café he had appeared in, Sora gripped the railing and started to yell, "Oh god Riku, where are you? Riku? Riku! Oh no, not again, please don't do this to me! Riku! Seriously, where are you?" Sora took in a deep breath to start yelling some more when someone cut him off sharply.
"Shut up! What the hell is your problem?"
Sora let out a squeak of shock and toppled forward over the railing toward the fast-approaching ground. Twisting, Sora managed to go into a roll to avoid being injured. Standing and glancing up in the direction the voice had come from, Sora grinned ruefully at the newcomer, "Oh, okay, sorry." Sora paused, and then added, "Hi."
On top of the roof, aloof and unconcerned, stood an orange-haired teen, Neku, who eyed Sora with suspicion for a moment, before asking a question, "You're Sora?" Without another word, Neku hopped down from the roof, miraculously not breaking any bones in his body as he landed, "You're not part of the game, are you?" He questioned, grabbing a hold of Sora's wrist without warning and looking and finding nothing on the brunette's palm.
"Er…game?" Sora tilted his head, confusion evident in his expression, and feeling slightly uncomfortable with Neku holding his hand like that and staring so intently at his palm. It was kind of weird. It was then that Sora realized that Neku knew his name. Sora's eyes widened, "Wait a minute! How do you know my name?"
Neku sighed and let go of Sora's wrist, having sensed the other's unease, and held out his own palm, "The reaper's game." He pointedly ignored Sora's second question, not wanting the other teen to know how he had acquired his name. At least not at the moment.
Sora looked down at Neku's palm and inhaled sharply. There was a red timer counting down the numbers marked there, "Whoa, why're there numbers there? What do they do?" Sora had forgotten all about Neku mysteriously knowing his name in favor of the shiny red numbers.
Neku shook his head, amazed at how quickly Sora's attention had been diverted. "It'd take too long to explain, and I doubt you'd understand anyhow," Neku turned away, "I don't have time to waste, I need to find my game partner."
Sora trailed after Neku, "I can help you look for them."
Neku sent Sora another suspicious look over his shoulder, "Why? We just met each other. Why would you go out of your way to help a stranger?"
Sora opened his mouth to respond, when music suddenly started to blare out from the café speakers.
"…Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me, maybe…"
A long, awkward silence ensued as the music continued to blast loudly into the otherwise silent town.
Sora gave the speakers a funny look before responding to Neku's question, "Well…" Sora linked his hands behind his head and smiled cheerfully, "…Friends help each other, don't they?" Sora didn't understand why someone wouldn't want help if it was offered.
"We just met one another and we're friends already?" Neku asked dubiously, eye twitching as the song continued to play in the background, though the café owner had finally realized that the music had been too loud and had turned it down, "Never mind, I got to go."
"I can help then?"
Neku jerked his head in what Sora took as agreement. Neku turned once more, and, racing toward a wall, kicked off it, and, enshrouded in purple, raced along a railing and leapt high into the air, heading further into town.
Forgetting all about the strangeness of the previous conversation, Sora brightened and breathed, "Wooow, so cool! I want to try that!" With a big grin, Sora raced toward the wall as Neku had, and kicked off it…
…only to fall flat on his face, "Oww…that's kind of harder than it looks…" Sora stood back up, and tired again, this time succeeding in activating flowmotion, yet fell to the ground as he missed the railing.
Sora muttered darkly to himself, standing up once again and brushing dirt from his clothes. He turned toward a lamp post with a frown, and closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath, "I wonder…" Sora's eyes opened and he dashed for the pole. Taking a flying leap, Sora managed to get one hand wrapped around the pole as he swung himself around. Or, at least, he tired to. Sora's hand slipped, and he stumbled, hitting the ground roughly and driving the breath from his body.
Sora winced and sucked in a rough gasp of air, pushing himself shakily to his feet. Undaunted, Sora leapt at the pole again with a look of determination, and successfully swung himself around the pole several times. "All right! Not so bad after all! I got this!" Sora pivoted and launched himself up, aiming to land above the café on the roof. Instead, Sora found himself plowing straight into the wall of the café, instantly stunning himself.
Sora lay flat on his back, dazed, and decided that his aching body could do with a short break. He felt winded, like he had just run a raft race or something. After resting, Sora sat up, wincing as pain flared through his body. He was definitely going to be sore tomorrow. Sora decided then and there to walk to the second district of Traverse Town. It seemed a safer option than trying that flowmotion technique again so soon, and risking more bodily harm.
Sora reached the second district, and had been wandering around the area for a short time when he was attacked by what he recalled Yen Sid had said were Dream Eaters, the nightmare variety. Sora leapt away and summoned forth his Keyblade, ready for a fight.
"What are you doing?" Neku questioned, emerging from an alleyway and giving Sora's weapon an unimpressed once over.
Sora looked at the Nightmares, then at Neku, "Um…fighting them?" What else would he be doing with his Keyblade? Showing it off to the enemy?
Neku gave a light shake of his head, "You should use these guys. Neku pointed at the nearest Dream Eater. A cat-like Dream Eater appeared and attacked it.
Sora brought up his Keyblade defensively and blocked an attack. He looked at the number of Nightmares near him and sighed. This was going to take awhile without using flowmotion, Sora didn't want to risk putting himself in the path of several of the creatures and miss dodging their attacks.
INFO: Battle completed with minimal damage to Sora. He really should learn to use flowmotion, like his friend could do. Quite easily, in fact…
Sora scowled uncharacteristically up at the sky. He could have sworn he had heard a voice insulting his battling abilities.
"Hey! Are you going to listen to me or not?" Neku demanded tersely, annoyed that Sora had been distracted yet again.
"Ah! Yes." Sora responded, turning his attention to the orange-haired teen, who started to speak. Sora stared vacantly at Neku after the other had explained how to create a spirit Dream Eater. While Sora was still reeling from the information dump and how creatures could be made out of inanimate objects, he realized that Neku was walking away, "Hey! Can I still help you look for your partner? You know, 'cause we're…"
"…friends?" Neku finished, eying Sora again like he was from another world.
"Yep!" Sora said in response, not picking up the disbelief in Neku's voice.
Neku highly doubted that Sora would take no for an answer, and resumed walking, "Fine, suit yourself." He stopped momentarily, and turned back, "Name's Neku."
"Okay, then, Neku. My name's Sora. Let's go find your partner."
INFO: Sora creates a spirit through some means Sora doesn't fully understand with help from an unknown and unseen source.
Sora ignored the voice this time in favor of staring down at the roly-poly dog-cat-dog Dream Eater spirit, which was currently wagging its stubby tail furiously, "Hmm… 'Meow Wow' sounds weird. I'll call you Tegren."
Tegren rolled around on the ground as Sora rubbed its belly, its paws in the air and yipping, obviously pleased with the attention.
Once Sora was finished bonding with Tegren, he headed in the direction Neku had gone, the spirit following after him. Sora spotted a street lamp and said, "I'm going to practice a bit."
Tegren settled down next to a fountain, and watched as Sora ended up pratfalling quite a few more times before he really started to get the hang of the flowmotion technique.
INFO: Fast-forward to after the boss battle and conversation with Joshua.
"Is that really necessary to inform people of?" Sora muttered aloud as he stared up at the sky in the direction that Joshua had gone, before turning to Riku, who almost looked like a hologram, "Hey, Riku?" Sora wasn't going to mention the voice, just in case Riku hadn't heard anything and he didn't want Riku to think he was crazy.
"Hm?" Riku turned to regard Sora.
"Have you tried that flowmotion thing yet? Want me to teach you? It's a lot of fun once you get the hang of it." Sora looked at Riku eagerly.
Riku took in Sora's battered appearance, guessing that it had taken the brunette quite a few attempts to work out the newly available technique. Riku tilted his head to the side to hide a small smile, aware of his own near-perfect appearance compared to Sora's dirty and torn clothing, "No, it's fine. I got it right away." Riku slid a sly look at Sora, unable to resist teasing his friend, "It seems like you had some trouble. Maybe I should be the one teaching you."
Sora's pout was a predictable response, and Riku vanished from view with a faint smirk etched across his features.
Sora crossed his arms, still wearing a pout "It's so not fair that Riku's so good at everything. Maybe Ansem taught him back then…" Sora shook his head, "No, bad thought, go away." Sora glanced down at Tegren hopefully, "I did get the hang of that flowmotion thing pretty quickly, didn't I?"
Tegren sneezed and stared up at Sora, tail wagging.
"Fine! When I see Riku again, we'll see who's done the best flowmotion tricks! He won't beat me again!" Sora declared, pumping a fist into the air.
Tegren followed after its master, sneezing again.
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And so, the flowmotion battle began.
Riku won by a wide margin of pure awesomeness and finesse, while Sora, in return, received the Try Again trophy for his efforts.
Sora also relearned the valuable lesson of never trying to outperform Riku. To this day, it is a lesson that Sora doesn't remember, or, rather, one he chooses not to in hopes that he will someday succeed.
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And now, for a random moment with Riku on The Grid…
Riku relaxed ever so slightly on his light cycle as the corrupted programs stopped their assault. Riku watched as the large Nightmare Dream Eater he had been fighting with moments before flew out of sight. Riku then noticed more programs headed his way, and he tsked in annoyance, "Screw this." Riku muttered, and, with a smooth pivot, turned the light cycle about effortlessly, and made for the nearest wall. Weapons appeared again, which were conveniently unavailable in the movie when it would have proved very useful and was no doubt put in the game for Riku to use instead of his Keyblade to change things up.
Riku blinked in confusion. Movie? Game? Where had those thoughts come from? Shaking his head, Riku focused on what was at hand. He needed to escape and figure out what was going on in this world. Blasting a hole into the wall, he was provided with an escape route. Riku raced out through the hole, and flew over the gap, his stance and demeanor all but screaming 'later bitches!' as his light cycle landed neatly on the ground.
Riku, immensely unconcerned with what he had just been through, dismounted the cycle and began to walk at a quick pace, muttering to himself, "Better find Sora before those programs do. He's too trusting of people. He'll talk to anyone."
INFO: Sora receives the trophy Trusting Fool.
Riku receives the Exasperated Friend trophy.
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A/N: Hopefully this was mildly amusing and not too similar to the in game cut scenes.
I do like Sora, I just prefer Riku, especially in KH3D. He's more practical in the game, whereas Sora is way too trusting of people, except for the bad guys, and even then he sometimes tries to talk sense into them.
And yes, Sora can win the raft race and mock battle with Riku in KH1. I just like the idea that they have a lot of competitions, and more often than not, Riku would win, and would rub that fact in, spurring Sora to try harder and improve next time.