KINGDOM HEARTS III:
CHAPTER ONE: DIVE INTO THE HEART
(I only own Kenji and the Forbidden Dragon)
Falling, that's how Kenji remembered his dream beginning. He was falling to the bottom of what seemed like an ocean or some large body of water. He slowly regained consciousness as he fell closer to the ground.
"Wha- where…." Those where the only words he could get out as he started to stop falling head first and begin pushing his legs under him. Slowly, he met the black endless surface. "Where am I?" He looked around to see if there was anything else other than him down there. Nothing, nothing but darkness. Kenji began to progress forward one step and once he did the whole ground began to move and lift up.
The dark figures lifted to reveal a large lit up surface. The figures where like hundreds of birds. Kenji covered his eyes since his eyes where already adjusted to the dark and became sensitive to the light. The birds lifted off the ground all around him and as they did, the lit ground grew. His eyes readjusted to the light as the last of the birds flew off into the darkness.
"Birds? Down here?" he asked himself. He also began to wonder how he was breathing now that he was far below the surface of the water. He set that aside in his mind and concentrated on the large, stained glass image he was standing on. It was circular in shape and depicted many people.
The largest and most noticeable person on the image was Sora, who was in the middle of the whole thing next to a person that looked exactly like him only with blonde hair and in a different hair style. Kenji identified him as his friend, Roxas, who works with him on Radiant Garden. It showed both Sora and Roxas holding hands with each other in the picture, which Kenji found disturbing. Other than Roxas and Sora, there where other people there too. He saw Riku sitting in the upper right hand corner looking down in Sora's direction with his eyes closed. Riku was also holding his Keyblade. Kenji saw a girl in the upper left hand corner in the same sitting position as Riku who was looking down at Roxas. Her eyes where also closed. Kenji did not know who she was, but she had light red hair that reached just below her shoulders and a gentle expression. Kenji thought it was Namine, Roxas's 'stalker' Kenji called her, but she was also on the image just above Roxas and Sora. She wasn't wearing anything, but everything below her collar was covered by Roxas and Sora. At the bottom of the picture, behind Kenji, where pictures of other people. Kenji recognized them as Sora's other friends, Donald and Goofy. Plus there was a mouse with big ears between them with a Keyblade. King Mickey was the first name that came to his mind.
"Who made this thing?" he asked himself. The whole picture, other than the people depicted on it, was black and silver. Kenji's attire consisted of a red t-shirt under a white jacket with its sleeves rolled up and a pair of white jeans that fell over the tops of his black shoes. "Where am I!?"
Do not be afraid…
"What!?" said Kenji to the sudden voice in the area. He has never heard this voice before but it sounded so familiar. It sounded like a woman. "Who-who's there!?"
There is nothing to fear…
You are protected by the light…
"What do you mean!?" he asked to the disembodied voice.
All of the sudden three pedestals appeared with different armaments on them. A sword, a staff, and a shield.
Chose your path…
Kenji didn't know if he had a choice or not. He approached the weapons and examined them. First he looked at the shield. He did not like to use shields since they just get in the way. Kenji decided not to take the shield. Then he looked at the staff. He wasn't a fan of magic; the staff looked like it could not do much damage anyways. Finally, he examined the sword. The sword looked like it was of good quality, like the ones his brother, Saburo, trained with. Kenji touched the sword and all of the weapons vanished, even the sword.
You have chosen the path of the warrior…What will you surrender…?
Surrender? Kenji believed it meant he had to give up something. He did not know exactly. He looked at the two weapons that remained. After a quick thought, he shrugged and touched the shield, which vanished instantly.
Suddenly, a large, key-like, sword appeared in his hands. "This is…….the Keyblade…" he said.
This will be your weapon…
The weapon he gained was the basic form of the Keyblade, the Kingdom Key. Kenji started waving it through the air to test its weight and balance. "Why am I chosen…?"
Because of your Heart…
Then a creature appeared before Kenji. It was a Heartless. It was small with antenna and big glowing yellow eyes.
This is a Heartless…
You will encounter a large amount of these on your quest…
...destroy it!
The Heartless jumped forward at Kenji. He quickly reacted and cut it in two. He quickly looked to see if any more where there before a new enemy appeared. It had no eyes at all and was very slim. The mouth of it was lined with a zipper and small lights ran down the sides of its body and its legs. It also had a cross-like emblem on its head.
The white creature just seemed to stand and sway its shoulders back and fourth and wasn't attacking.
This is a Nobody…
These are what are left over when people lose their heart and become a Heartless…
Nobodies may fight against the heartless, but they are still your enemy…
This is a basic Nobody called Dusk…
"A Nobody…" said Kenji. He studied the creature as it stood there.
Look out!
Kenji almost jumped when he heard that. Then the Dusk started to slowly walk towards him. Kenji got ready.
You must be ready whenever you come across one of these…
They attack without warning; they are smarter and stronger than the Heartless…
The Dusk jumped at Kenji. Kenji quickly moved out of the way and attacked it. The Dusk vanished. "That was too close."
Very good…
Then a door appeared in front of Kenji at the end of the picture. "Is that the way out?"
Be careful…
Beyond this door, there is no light to protect you…
You must fight to protect yourself…
Kenji took a deep breath and advanced towards the door. He looked behind it and saw nothing. He faced the door and opened it. When he did, a blinding light appeared.
Kenji found himself on the same mural as before, only it was blue and white, other than black and silver. He looked around at the surrounding area. It was pitch black. "I thought the door lead out of here!"
I never said that was the exit…
"Now that's a load of spineless crap!" he said. "How long must I be here?"
That is depended on how long you take…
"Stop speaking in riddles!" he yelled. "Who the hell are you!?"
You're wasting time…
Kenji gave up. He knew he was not going to get an answer and progressed to the center of the mural. Then four of the little Heartless appeared surrounding him. Kenji quickly reproduced the Keyblade in his hand and got ready for battle. He was not paying very much attention to his back allowing one of them to attack him. The pain was a really sharp sting in his back. "Ah!"
He regained focus and sliced that one in two first. Then he finished off the other ones. "I thought…this was…a dream…"
The dangers here are very real, Kenji…
"Great…" he said. Suddenly, a path appeared which lead to another platform. Kenji had a gut feeling that he needed to go that way. He started walking up it. After a short walk up he made it to, yet, another mural. This one was black and silver like last time. "Great, back to where I started…"
Then, Dusks started to appear out of nowhere. Kenji automatically summoned the Keyblade and took action. He avoided their attacks and took them out one by one. "That wasn't so tough."
There are more things that lurk in the darkness…
Kenji started walking up to a light from above the platform and stood under it.
The more you go into the light, the bigger your shadow becomes…
…and your shadow is darkness…
"What!?" said Kenji turning around just in time to see his shadow rise up from the ground. The shadow no longer looked like Kenji, but like a large dragon. "Holy, Shit!" he yelled as he ran away from it, but was halted at the edge of the platform. The dragon grew to about three stories and spread out its wings. It was a large black dragon covered in what looked like chains and restraints head to toe, and it was breathing purple smoke out of its mouth. "Hmmm…this complicates things a bit…" said Kenji.
This is the Forbidden Dragon; it is your greatest rival…
"That doesn't help very much…" said Kenji.
You must defeat it…
"Ya' know what? I hate you very much!" said Kenji summoning the Keyblade while the dragon approached.
I'm not very fond of you either…
The dragon brought down a large claw in an attempt to crush Kenji, but he jumped onto it and used it as a ramp up to the dragon's head and attacked it.
The dragon vanished quickly after that. Kenji looked around and saw no sign of it before a bunch of chains from the ground appeared and restrained him high in the air by his left arm and his legs, then the dragon appeared again. It opened its mouth and started to charge up an attack.
"This day couldn't suck more…" he said. Then he had an idea and threw the Keyblade into its mouth. The attack damaged the dragon and canceled the attack, but he was still in the chains. "I guess that would suffice."
Kenji looked around again to see if the dragon was anywhere close by. Then he looked up to see it flying above him. The dragon came down creating a huge tremor. Then it grabbed Kenji with its mouth and threw him up into the air. "Oh, crap!" yelled Kenji as he looked down to see that he was going to fall straight into its mouth. Kenji came down holding the Keyblade out and it stopped the dragon from closing its mouth on him.
Kenji pulled out the Keyblade after he put his feet on the top and bottom jaws of the dragon. Then he jumped off of them. Kenji came down pointing the Keyblade at the dragon's head. He stabbed the dragon and jumped to the ground.
The dragon screeched and vanished again. Kenji looked around again and spotted the dragon flying down at him. "Now you're mine!" he said running up to it.
The dragon came close to the ground and opened his mouth to eat Kenji, but Kenji quickly jumped over it and came down with a powerful slash at the dragon's neck, cutting the head off.
"There…I won!" said Kenji.
Then the ground became covered in darkness and started putting him in. Kenji tried to get out, but it was hopeless. He could only reach out his hand and hope for someone to grab it. Amazingly, someone did grab it. He looked up to see a girl with blue hair; he couldn't make out the face, let alone see it.
"Don't be afraid…" she said in the same mysterious voice. "You have a special gift…it is very powerful…"
"Wh-who are you!?" he said while still being pulled in.
"My name is…"
"Kenji! Kenji, wake up!" said a familiar voice.
Kenji opened his eyes to see himself in the cockpit of Leon's gummi ship. "Wha…what?" Waking up made him remember everything that just happened on Radiant Garden, the attack, Saexma, his brother vanishing, and when he was chosen by the Keyblade. "What happened?"
"You fell asleep, man." said the boy in front of him. The boy had blonde, messy hair with blue eyes, and an outfit similar to Kenji's only the jacket's sleeves where shorter and he had belts on his pants.
"Sorry, Roxas." said Kenji. "I had a weird dream…"
"Tell me about it." said Roxas. "No really, though."
Kenji looked out the cockpit window. "Where are we?"
"We're approaching Planet Freedom, the closest world to Radiant Garden." said Roxas steering the ship. "Someone we're looking for maybe there."
"Cool, let's go…" said Kenji.
TO BE CONTINUED…
