Chapter 1: Dive Into the Heart - Redux

Falling. He was falling. He was falling through the sky; soaring past memories of his life. Meeting his friends; the adventures they shared, encountering the legends of his world and battling the evil that threatened them all.

Who is he, you might ask? Why, he is none other than Ash Ketchum from the rural town of Pallet.

One by one, the images flew by. He opened his mouth to shout out, but no sound escaped him. Faster and faster they came; searing themselves into his mind until he felt as though he were about to break.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it all stopped and he found himself floating; as though being cradled by a gentle ocean. Slowly, tentatively, Ash righted himself until his feet touched down on an inky-black surface. A glance around told him that he stood within a pitch-black void. Taking a deep, calming breath — a bit surprised that he could breath at all, given the circumstances — the raven-haired teen stepped forward; only to gasp as the ground beneath him shattered into a cascade of pure white doves and revealed him to be standing upon a circular, stained-glass pillar.

Furrowing his brow, Ash was shocked to find himself staring at a mosaic image of his oldest friend, Misty sitting upon a rock surrounded by a serene ocean. The red-haired girl's eyes were closed and were it not for her upright posture, he would have thought her to be asleep.

Shaking his head in complete confusion, Ash once again gazed into the endless black void that surrounded the pillar. "...Where am I…?"

Value friendship.

A voice suddenly pierced through the surrounding gloom and caused the boy to let out a startled yelp. Glancing about in every direction, Ash attempted to find the source of the voice and to his growing concern, the voice continued in its low, reverberating tone.

There is no time to be indecisive.

You must be strong.

Your path is set before you.

Your journey begins in the dead of night.

The teen felt himself reflexively stiffen as as three pedestals slowly rose from the ground before him. Upon each of them was an item — a weapon.

Ash waited for the voice to speak. When nothing happened, he let out a sigh and turned his attention to the three weapons before him. It seemed that he was meant to take one of them. He made his way over to the closest of the three — a sword. Grasping it by the hilt, Ash brought the blade to eye level and examined it closely. While he could hardly be called an expert on weaponry, even he could tell that it was truly a masterpiece of craftsmanship. The hilt fit perfectly within his hand and the blade itself was just long enough to give him plenty of reach without being too cumbersome.

But most of all, it felt right in his hands — like an extension of his arm.

Power of the Warrior: Invincible Courage

A sword of terrible destruction.

Do you accept this power?

While the voice's sudden return had caused him to flinch, Ash gave the sword a few practice swings. Sure. Why not?

Wordlessly, he nodded.

He hadn't even been able to finish the motion before the three pedestals suddenly fell through the glass below him; causing the entire pillar to shatter into thousands of pieces. Shouting in alarm, Ash found himself falling flat on his face atop a new pillar. This time the mosaic featured his most constant companion — the Pokémon breeder, Brock. Like Misty before him, the tanned teenager had his eyes closed as he leaned against the edge of the pillar. The mountains of Pewter City stood tall and proud in the background.

You have chosen the weapon of the warrior.

You must now prove yourself in combat.

Ash leapt back as a silvery-white creature suddenly materialized before him. "W-What the heck is that?!"

You are in danger. What will you do?

Without a second thought, the raven-haired teen reached for his Poké Balls at his waist; only to freeze as his hand came up empty. Where were they?! Charizard? Sceptile? Greninja? Pikachu?!

The silvery creature suddenly lunged at him, forcing the boy to frantically stumble backwards. Landing squarely on his rear, Ash scrambled away from the creature on all fours.

'What now?' he thought desperately as the creature once again began advancing towards him. As though in answer to this silent questioned, the same sword from before suddenly appeared in his hand in a flash of light.

"The sword…?" Ash murmured; staring at the blade. He caught movement in his peripheral vision and instinctively raised the weapon to defend himself. A loud clang resounded throughout the gloomy darkness as the creature's claws made contact with the sword. Hissing slightly, the mysterious creature drew back and glared at him balefully.

Blinking slightly, Ash unsteadily rose to his feet as a torrent of images and information began flooding into his mind. Almost unbidden, he raised the sword into a ready stance; as though he'd done this hundreds of times before.

A hiss was his only warning as the unidentified creature lunged at him once more. Narrowing his eyes, he allowed his body to move on its own; parrying its attack before launching into his own string of blows. He cut; he hacked; he slashed and with a grunt, he ended the creature with a stab to the chest; causing it to explode in a shower of blue sparks.

Ash stood there panting for a good half-minute before turning to stare at the sword incredulously. How did he just do that? He'd never held a sword in his life let alone used one in combat. How then, did he know just where to strike; how to move his feet; how to fight?

He wasn't able to ponder this phenomenon for long before two similar creatures suddenly materialized. One before him and one behind him. They were performing a flanking maneuver. Ash's eyes narrowed as the two creatures began circling him.

Without warning, they both lunged from either direction. Ash simply leapt back; allowing them to collide with each other before quickly bisecting them both with his sword. The creatures dissolved into blue sparks, prompting the teen to release a breath he hadn't been aware he'd been holding.

Well done.

With those words of praise, an enormous, translucent staircase appeared behind him in a flash of white light. Letting out a quiet sigh, Ash followed the stairs down to yet another pillar. This time, the mosaic was of May, Dawn, Iris and Serena; hands linked in a circle. Together they lay, eyes closed, within a copse of trees — dappled light gently glistening through the canopy above.

Suddenly, Ash felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as the surrounding shadows began to move. Slowly, they crept forward until they took physical shape. It was all he could do not to recoil as the shadows' grotesque forms were revealed to him. Razor-sharp claws, wiry antennae and beady yellow eyes were not a pleasant combination and their twitchy, cringe-inducing movements only added to their general unpleasantness.

Any further thoughts on their appearance were put on hold, as an instant later, he once again found himself embroiled in battle. Calling the blade into his hands, he ducked beneath a slash aimed at his face. He deftly twirled his blade around and stabbed the offending creature in the chest; causing it to dissolve into shadows once more. Dashing forward, he slashed his way through another before finding himself face-to-face with the final creature.

It lunged at him, but the raven-haired teen was quick to leap over it — using the creature's own back as leverage to do so — and cut it clean through the middle. Ash didn't even have time to catch his breath before the floor beneath him shattered. Shouting in alarm, the boy found himself once again face-planting on to the surface of the next pillar.

"Okay, what the heck?!" he grumbled. "I know for a fact that you can make stairs. That was completely unnecessary!"

Ash was startled by the sound of giggling piercing through the darkness. The voice was much clearer than before. Whereas earlier it had sounded far-off and almost ambient in nature — as if thousands of voices were speaking at once; this time he was able to distinguish it. It sounded… female. Girlish, almost.

Shaking his head, Ash took the opportunity to appraise the newest pillar. This time, he found that it depicted a boy with spiky, brown hair in a red jumpsuit, large yellow shoes and carrying a strange, key-like sword. Within small circles above the boy's head were other distinct individuals.

One was of a duck-like creature.

Another was of a dog-like being.

One was of a boy with shoulder-length, silver hair.

A girl with chin-length red hair.

A young-looking boy with spiky blond hair.

An older boy with long, spiky, brunet hair.

And finally, a girl with shoulder-length aqua-colored hair.

The station itself was blue in color and depicted in the background was a tropical island in the middle of a vast ocean. Within the trees, Ash could just barely make out what appeared to be star-shaped fruit.

Your final task is now at hand.

He jumped slightly as the voice once again pierced through the darkness. Like earlier however, the voice was genderless and reverberating.

Now, you must face your fiercest enemy…

A sense of trepidation filled him as Ash warily gazed out into the surrounding darkness. But nothing came. All around him was nothing but darkness; his only companion being his own shadow. Wait… his shadow…?

Beware; for the closer you get to the light...

The greater your shadow becomes.

Ash could only watch in growing horror as his own shadow began to steadily grow larger and larger until it nearly engulfed the entirety of the pillar. Like a wrathful phantom, it gazed down upon him with eerily glowing eyes.

"My greatest enemy… is myself?" he whispered.

As though awaiting these very words, his shadow suddenly tore itself from the two-dimensional plane and took shape into a giant, grotesque caricature of himself with writhing, snake-like hair. The creature let out a fearsome roar and Ash instinctively took a step back.

Don't be afraid…

Ash blinked as the voice once again grew distinguishable. Suddenly, a feeling of warmth spread throughout his body and he felt himself relax. A bright white light flashed before him and the teen found himself staring at a crimson-red, star-shaped charm attached to a string. Ash gently took it in his hands and examined it. The charm was definitely nothing fancy, but it was beautiful nonetheless and reminded him of the fruit he had seen pictured in the stained glass.

We are connected.

So, don't be afraid.

The teen nodded with a weak smile as a feeling of reassurance began flooding through him. He gently placed the charm around his neck and tucked it into his shirt. Taking a deep breath, Ash called the sword to him one more time.

Brown eyes met venomous yellow. And with that, the two struck. The creature thrust its arm straight at the teen, which was deftly sidestepped. The trainer took the opportunity to leap up and deliver a slash at the creature's face. The monster let out a roar of pain before lashing out with its snake-like hair. Ash let out a startled yelp as one of the snake's' jaws snapped shut just inches from his face. Leaping back, he dashed away to avoid the oncoming swarm of serpents.

His eyes narrowing, the raven-haired boy timed a jump straight over the snake-like hair and straight towards the creature's face. As he cut through the monster's thick skin, it let out an enraged shriek and lashed its arm out in a wide sweep; catching him square in the chest and sending flying towards the other side of the platform.

Nearly there…

Steeling himself, Ash grit his teeth and dashed forward one last time. The creature once again roared as it threw one, final punch. The boy leapt over its incoming fist and landed on the monster's arm. Wasting no time, Ash ran up the length of its arm before making one last leap at its face. Unleashing a downward slash, he landed and glanced up at the monster that had once been his very own shadow.

Brown eyes met yellow. Finally, the creature dissolved into shadows once more; his own shadow returning to its uninteresting, inanimate form. Ash let out a sigh of relief and it was all he could do not to collapse in exhaustion.

He waited for the voice to return, but oddly enough; nothing happened. Ash glanced around at the surrounding darkness in confusion. It was only when he felt the odd sensation of cold water washing over his feet that he finally glanced down…

Only to let out an alarmed shout. He was sinking! His feet were being engulfed by a black shadow and he was slowly sinking into it!

You hold the mightiest weapon of all.

Ash paid the voice no heed as he began to violently thrash about in an attempt to free himself. The sword disappeared from his grasp as he reached down and tried to pry his leg out. It did him no good. The darkness was consuming him.

Don't be afraid… I'm right here.

The voice's gentle reassurance was the last thing he heard before everything went black.

A/N: So, yeah. Here it is. The original Pokemon: Keyblade Masters seems to be the go-to fic for this fandom. But let's be honest here. It wasn't very well-written. I've PM'd the author and even Auriansmule himself seemed to be kind of embarrassed by how bad it was at times.

I asked him if he had any intention of re-writing it, but he told me that he quit fanfiction two years ago and he intends to stick by that decision. I have to respect that. I know how tempting it is to want to write something. Hell, my username pretty much reflects my ADHD.

So, partially out of that respect, I offered my services to him in remastering his original work and he agreed. As such, this is indeed a remaster. It will be shinier. The language will be flowerier. I may even add in a new subplot or two. But the overall story will be the same.

With some King of Plot Bunnies flair, of course! (Under the strict supervision of Auriansmule. God! What a buzzkill ;_;)

Now, please understand that this is a side project for me. I wish to focus the majority of my efforts on my own fics, so this one will definitely not be receiving regular updates. I will be writing "whenever the hell I feel like it".

Anyway thanks for reading and be sure to leave a comment below even if it's just to say "The original was better." (Freakin hipsters...)

- Your King