"For the last time I said no Xehanort!"
"But master these test may lead into a better understanding of the heart."
"No I forbid it! These experiments are too dangerous for everyone. Including yourself"
"Master that is a risk I am willing to take."
"Listen Xehanort, drop it. Nothing good will come of this. You and the rest of my apprentices must destroy all the experiments and results. Do you understand?"
"Yes master Ansem."
Master Ansem watched his apprentice walk around the corner into another hallway before sighing. "What are you planning Xehanort? I've seen the Ansem reports, why are you using my name? This will have to wait for another time, today I have a special guest" As Master Ansem walked away he didn't notice his apprentice watching from the corner.
"Man what a horrible dream." I sat up rubbing my head.
"What was it about?" A female asked.
"I don't know it was weird, I travelled to another world and fought some guy. But that's all I remember."
"That's probably because I knocked you out."
"Huh?" I finally took in my surroundings, I was in a small room on the ground. Next to me on a bed was an unconscious Sora and to my right standing in front of the bed was a girl. "Where am I?"
"You're in Traverse Town." A man said. I looked to where the voice came from and saw the man who I beat in my dream. I quickly got up and summoned my keyblade waking Sora up.
"What's going on?" He asked sitting up.
"Relax there was a little misunderstanding. My name's Leon" the man said.
"And I'm the great ninja Yuffie." the girl said.
"Must be some misunderstanding since you tried to kill my friend here." I said pointing at Sora.
"It's not like I was trying to, the heartless are attracted to that blade. Knocking you two out was the only way to prevent them from following us." I looked for any deception in the man's face and found none.
"So you're an ally then, you have some way of showing it. So what are these heartless monsters?" I asked.
"They are beings of darkness with one goal in mind, to seek the darkness in hearts and to consume them. Our leader Ansem the Wise studied these creatures extensively but he disappeared." I perked up at the mention of that name. I heard it in my dreams before. "That weapon you two have are called keyblades, the only weapon that can release the hearts. And only you can wield it." to prove this Leon grabbed Sora's keyblade which was leaning on the wall next to him. When he grasped it it disappeared into a blinding light and reappeared in Sora's hand.
"You have been chosen by the keyblade." Yuffie added.
"And as long as you two wield the keyblade the heartless will attack you relentlessly with no mercy until your heart is consumed by darkness."
Behind me and Sora, three dark portals appeared and out came three heartless in armour. "They found us, Yuffie go!" Leon said pulling out his weapon as did me and Sora. "Alright let's do this!" Leon slashed at one pushing it out of the window and followed. Sora did the same except the heartless turned into a heart and floated into the air. I slashed at one and it turned into a heart as well but instead it flew to my keyblade and was absorbed. I noticed this but didn't give it much thought and jumped out the window. In the alley where we landed even more heartless appeared. "I'll take care of these guys you two get to First District, it should be safe there. Now go!" Leon said charging at the heartless in front of us.
We went the opposite way and entered a house. It was furnished but there was no sign of people. Two rooms later and we come upon two dogs, Dalmatians to be exact. One got in front of the other and growled at us. "Easy there boy we're not gonna hurt you." I said putting my hands up Sora mimicking my actions. It seemed to calm the dog down as I approached with a steady but cautious hand. The dog looked warily at the approaching hand but once it rested on its head it relaxed. The other dog sensed we weren't trouble and snuggled up against Sora and I. Despite being relaxed by our presence the two Dalmatians looked worried and upset.
"What's wrong boy?" I asked. Said dog left from the comforts of my lap and headed for the room we came from. When he returned he had a picture in his mouth. He handed it over to me and me and Sora saw the two dogs and around them were what seemed like hundreds of smaller pups. "Are these yours?" The dog gave a bark confirming my question. "Are they missing?" The female gave a whimper this time. "Don't worry boy." I stood up patting the dog on the head. "We'll reunite you and your family." After hearing this the two got really excited and charged Sora and I jumping up and down licking our faces. As we left the house the two dogs saw us off and barked at us saying goodbye.
"Do you really think we can find them all? There's like a hundred dogs in that photo." Sora said. I looked at the picture and started counting. "Shoot we don't even know where we are let alone all of those dogs."
"99. There are 101 dogs in this picture and excluding the two parents there are 99 pups to find. I'm sure with that many it won't be so hard to find." My biggest concern wasn't how and where to find them it was the ever growing threat of the Heartless. They are basically defenceless if they come across one of those monsters.
"Come on let's get moving we gotta meet back up with Leon." Sora said and we left the house. We were back in the second district and it seemed to be clear. When we got to the door leading to the First District a big fat heartless blocked us. I struck him only for my keyblade to bounce off. He swung at me and I blocked the attack, Sora had struck him in the back destroying it. Four more appeared along with a bunch of soldier looking heartless. "There's too many we have to find another way!" Sora said. We ran in the opposite direction of the door with the heartless hot on our tail.
We found an alley leading to another door with the number three. The heartless were right on our tail so we rushed the door. Before we could open the door however I heard a sharp noise and looked back to see one of the soldier heartless lung itself at us. I didn't have time to block since it was so fast and it delivered a swift kick to my chest knocking me down. Sora helped me up and when we opened the door there was a house to our left, a wall in front of us and a path following the wall down to the right and above that path was a balcony. We held the door and felt the heartless trying to break through but eventually they just stopped.
"You ok Freddy." I looked down at my chest where the heartless had struck me and saw no immediate wound it might bruise up later though.
"Yeah I'll be fine let's keep moving." We tried looking through the window of the house only to find that it was totally empty only a couple boxes and a table occupying the room so we headed down the path and rounded the corner. There was a fountain in the corner and another path leading to a door with a flame on it.
To our right was a door that leads to district 1. We headed for it but heard an explosion coming from the balcony. Two figures were falling and screaming from above us. We tried to get out of the way but Sora and I got crushed under the two.
"What's the big idea?" I said pushing them off of us. They were definitely not human. One was a humanoid duck with a staff and the other looked like a humanoid dog with a shield.
"The key!" They both said noticing our weapons. I was thinking we were going to have a repeat of earlier so I got ready to fight. And a fight I got but not with the two newcomers, stone blocks appeared blocking off any way of getting out and a couple soldier heartless appeared. "Guess we'll just have to fight. You guys wanna give us a hand." I said asking the strangers and they gave a nod. Before I could charge in the duck cast a spell from his staff sending a lightning bolt through two destroying them. The dog threw his shield like a frisbee bouncing off one's head to another and off one more before catching it. Not wanting to be left on tbd sidelines I grabbed Sora's arm and span before tossing him at a heartless. He plunged his Keyblade though it making it disappear into a heart. He rolled upon landing and was almost struck by a soldier heartless but I dispatched him with a swing of my blade. With our teamwork we were able to fight off a horde of relentless heartless but soon enough there was no more heartless left but the walls were still up. A pair of giant armoured boots fell from the sky followed by a bell like torso and two arms and to top it off a head on top. It was the second biggest heartless we've encountered so far.
The huge heartless jumped into the air making all his parts shake and slam on the ground where us four were standing. The duck flew the furthest away but I saw him shoot a fireball towards the heartless which angered it. It's legs separated from the body and stomped towards him. I was going to help but I blocked the arms which also detached and were spinning like a windmill. When I blocked the attack the arms stopped spinning and I went around it and tackled the duck before the feet could smash him.
"Thanks" he said.
"Don't mention it." The arms and feet were coming right for us. Over on Sora's side he and the dog were running from the body that was spinning very fast. The legs jumped into the air as I was looking at Sora and before it landed on me the duck used a thunderbolt to destroy the left leg. "I guess we're even now." The other foot laid on the ground twitching, I took advantage of this and struck it with my keyblade destroying it.
The arms and body reattached and we all grouped up again. The body was spinning and was about to charge so the dog stood in front of us with his shield. The armour clashed with his shield and the dog was being pushed back so all of us pushed back with him.
With our combined strength we pushed it back and it started to slow down it spinning losing more momentum but the arms came around the side so I blocked the attack and the torso span even faster pushing the team back so I went around, dodging strikes coming from the arms and before one could hit me in the back I cut the torso down the middle.
The arms fell down and so did the torso. The head disappeared and out of the torso came out a heart. It flew into the air before being tugged and flew right for me. I blocked using my keyblade and the heart went into it just like the others. I felt a power surge throughout the keyblade. I took a second glance and it glowed brighter for a second before returning to normal.
"I see you guys met the King's friends. They've been searching for the Keyblade." Leon said arriving on scene with Yuffie and another woman following behind.
"You guys were looking for us?" Sora asked our new friends.
"Yes we are on a mission. Would you guys like to come with us? We'll be traveling to different worlds in our ship." Donald said.
"Will we be able to find Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked with innocent eyes.
"Sure of course."
"Really?" Goofy asked.
Donald pulled goofy down to his level and whispered in his ear but I heard. "I don't know but we need the keybearer to find the king."
"Go with them Sora, Freddy. They'll help you find your friends." Leon said.
Sora looked down sad at the fact that he might not find his friends. "We can't let you on our ship as you are. Sad and scary faces are not allowed on this ship. So smile."
Sora's head was still down and we all waited for his answer. It came in a goofy face that at first gained no reaction. But soon Donald and Goofy were dying from laughter. I even gave a little laugh and a smirk. We said our goodbyes to the trio in Traverse Town and headed for First District. Once there Donald and Goofy lead us to the big doors that lead outside.
Outside the door was a colorful and blocky ship. A panel opened up on the side and Donald and Goofy walked in. Sora looked at me with excitement in his eyes and ran into the ship with me following behind. It wasn't very big on the outside but upon entering we were in a large room. The room was littered with gears and pipes and there were gloved hands acting as cranes moving parts around inside. In the middle of the room there were two chairs. "Welcome to the gummi ship" Donald said.
Sora tried messing with some of the gears but a small wrench hit him on the head. The source was a chipmunk in overalls being held back by another chipmunk.
"Take that! That's what you get for messing around with our ship!" the angry Chipmunk said while shaking a fist at the boy who was now rubbing the red spot the wrench left.
"Calm down Dale. You mind kid, don'tcha be touchin' this and that like you own the place." The other Chipmunk said.
"Sora, Freddy, this is Chip and Dale. They're the mechanics responsible for the maintenance of the gummi ship." Donald said introducing the two chipmunks. They both stood on Sora outstretched hand and saluted.
"Chip and Dale reporting for duty!" They then ran up his arms and stood on either of his shoulders. Donald and Goofy sat down and me and Sora stood behind their seats. The ground beneath us lifted up and raised us into a smaller room with glass in the front so we can see out and a two glove cranes pulled out two new chairs and set it down behind Donald and Goofy's seats.
"Where to first?" I asked getting comfortable and laying back in my chair with my hands behind my head. Sora was on the edge of his seat full of excitement.
"At the moment the ship's navigational abilities are very limited so we can only travel so far. But I'll set the destination to the closest planet." Dale said sliding down Sora's arm followed by Chip and landed on the control panel. The two were jumping from button to button before a projection appeared in front of the window. "The closest planet seems to be a world called Wonderland."
"Well let's get going then, buckle up!" Donald said pulling a lever. We started to lift off the ground. Sora got out of his chair and was watching from the window as we hovered above the ground. Donald pushed a button and the ship went forward very fast throwing me and Sora to the back of the ship where the G-force was pushing us into the wall. "I said buckle up!"
It wasn't until we got into space where we were freed from the wall. In the ship there was no gravity so we were floating and Sora tried swimming in the air. I did the same but we hit the floor face first after Donald pressed a button turning gravity back to normal in the ship. "Now you can unbuckle." This is gonna be a long journey.
