A/N: The journey begins. You will all see what it's like for a world to be devoured by the Dream Eaters in the real world. Not only that, but you will also see the organization who's behind commanding the Dream Eaters. One thing's for certain, Patrick is going to be in quite a shock once he meets his enemies.
Make sure to review what you think, especially you Katryx Hirkai: SnowEmbrace, but watch the criticism. And remember: Anyone who reads my story without reviewing, *Holds out a hand* that'll be a 1000 Munny fine.
World: Traverse Town
Our journey begins.
We are about to face Dream Eaters in the real world. As two Keyblade Masters and a well-skilled Sora, we will overcome the enemy.
Even the three of us have divided power. Different and unique.
Sora's Limit Power
Riku's Command Style Power. So far, he only has Darkest Shadow.
My D-link Power. For my D-link, I only have one friend I'm connected to. Chantal. What power she gives me...I haven't figured that out yet. Never really connected to her before, even since nothing happened between the four months I went on a journey with her to find her beloved Sky.
Three different Keyblade wielders with unique and equal power. The Dream Eaters won't stand a chance against us.
We arrive at Traverses down, just outside of the gates. We walk into town, but we were not prepared for what was inside. We didn't encounter anything evil, but the scenery is...off.
The town is darker then it's usual night time. And the sky looks like it's shattering. Cracks everywhere like someone literally hit the sky. In those cracks and broken openings of the sky reveals redish black color that taints with dark nightmare energy. The broken barrier between our world and the dream world.
"Holy swiss cheese." I say. "Look at this place."
"Is this what happens to the world that's devoured by the nightmare?" Riku asks.
"And I thought the Realm of Darkness was terrifying enough." Aqua says.
We all walk ahead, me pushing Aqua's wheelchair, looking around as we wonder ahead. By the stairs to the second level of First Distract, a Dream Eater appears. A Flowbermeow. We are all startled, but Aqua is mostly wondering.
"What is that thing?" She asks.
"A Dream Eater." Riku says. But the Flowbermeow is not alone. More Dream Eaters appear. Komory Bats, Meow Wows and Necho Cats. "But it's not the only one."
The three of us summon our Keyblades. "Take them down!" I say.
Sora and Riku charges in, I stay right beside Aqua. She's too helpless to defend herself. The Dream Eaters focuses on Sora and Riku. Few, a Meow Wow and two Necho Cats, slip by them and come towards Aqua and I. I act fast and cut them down, in one single slash.
Sora and Riku still fight off their Dream Eaters. Just when I'm free, more Dream Eaters pop out of nowhere, surrounding the both of us.
"Stay calm, Aqua. I got this." I say.
I crack my neck, standing still in total awareness of my surroundings. All the Dream Eaters leap on us. I cast a Magnet spell and they all end up stuck in the small orb of magnet right on top of me. I gather my energy and do an Aerial sweep, jump while sweeping with my Keyblade out. Wipe out the Dream Eaters.
Dream Eaters keep coming out. We have no idea where they're coming from, but one thing's for certain: There's too many.
"Make a run for it!" Sora says.
We all retreated towards the Backstreets. Riku pulls Aqua while I follow from behind, standing shooting firebolts at the Dream Eaters behind us to slow them down. Sora and Riku make it to the doors, I use my ice powers to create a wall of ice to block out the Dream Eaters, then I enter the Backstreets.
We're relieved to get out of that situation. "Boy, those Dream Eaters are tough."
"What's the matter? Can't handle some small fry?" We're all on alert hearing that voice. We look at the path ahead, but we don't see anyone.
"Who's there!? Show yourself!" Sora demands.
What we don't know is the person is right on top of the gates to the First Distract.
She jumps and lands in front of the door. We turn to see who it is. A female in a block robe, with long black hair. Sora, Riku and Aqua have hostile expressions for her, but I am shocked to see the girl.
"Who are you, what are you doing here?" Riku asks.
"How cute. You think you can interrogate me?" The women asks.
Riku and Sora are ready to attack, but I stop them. "Wait!" I step forward, Sora and Riku are upset that I've stopped them, but become shocked when I speak. "Lauren? ...Is that you?" The girl looks confused, replacing previous expression of evil sassiness. "There's no mistaking it...It's me, Patrick...Patrick LeiShen." The girl doesn't say anything. "Don't you remember? ...We use to play together. The park? The beach? Our parents were close friends."
"You saying...she's your friend?" Sora asks.
"Humph." The girl denies it. "I don't know what you're talking about. My name Xalrune, and if are gonna try and trick me, it's not gonna work." Xalrune snaps her fingers, and Dream Eaters appears.
We're all surprised. She commands the Dream Eaters. An army of Jestabocky. The Dream Eaters come for us. Sora and I defeat a few before we retreat, moving onward on the Backstreet.
"Seize them!" Xalrune orders, and the Dream Eaters chase after us. As we run, Dream Eaters appears on the path ahead of us.
"I'll take care of them!" Riku summons his Keyblade. "Sora! Take the wheel!"
Riku just ditches Aqua before Sora even gets the chance to take the wheelchair. Luckily Sora was able to catch it before she ends up wheeling backwards on an uphill ramp.
Riku activates his Command Style, the Darkest Fear. Enhanced in dark energy, Riku takes out the Dream Eaters. I lend him a hand, but he's stronger and faster, only by an extra level.
With an army of Dream Eaters chasing after us, we make it out of the Backstreet, entering the Fountain Court. Sora and Riku are panting, a bit tired from all that running.
"Patrick...Do you know her?" Sora asks.
"Indeed. She was my friend Lauren back in my birth homeworld...before the Shadowmoon attacked." I say. "How can she not remember me?"
"She was calling herself...Xalrune...Wait." Riku is one to him.
He and I think.
Lauren.
Xalrune.
Then it hit us. "She's a Nobody!" It makes sense. During the attack, Rasputin turned almost everyone into Heartless's Lauren must have turned into one, and then she had a Nobody.
"Clever thinking." We are startled by a deep male voice. We all look up to see a muscle brown bald man in a black rope.
"I don't believe it...Peter? The Captain of the Royal Guard?" Sora and Riku are astonished, mouth open with no words coming out, to hear that.
"Not anymore! The names Rexpet! And I shall have all four of you on your knees!" Rexpet says.
Aqua speaks even through what she says isn't gonna help. "Technically, I can't feel anything below my waist...I can't be on my knees...exactly."
Rexpet grumbles. "You got quite a smart mouth with you, LeiShen." Dream Eaters appears. Dog like Nightmares known as Bark Bone. "Attack!"
The Bark Bones come straight for us. We attack the Nightmares. The Bark Bones are no challenge, we take them down easily even since Riku is still in his Command Style. One he reaches his full power, he unleashes Darkest Fear, unleashing dozens of dark bolts in all directions, up to a total of five dozen, and then deliverys a heavy powerful blow on his Dream Eater target.
Sora and I stay close to Aqua, the Dream Eaters were mostly targeting her. I still don't see why she would want to come if she's just gonna make easy pray to the Dream Eaters.
We defeat all the Dream Eaters. We look up to Rexpet. "Catch me if you can!" Rexpet jumps off the building and makes a run into the Fourth Distract.
"After him!" I say, grabbing the Wheelchair and running after Rexpet. We entered the Fourth Distract, we lost him but we keep running all the way to the entrance of the tournament. "Damn it! We lost him!"
We all look around, on alert. No sign of Rexpet or the Dream Eaters.
"Ha ha ha!" We all look up at the roof of the tournament building. A man with a buzz cut blonde hair and an eyebrow on his right eye stands, a metal bostaff in his hand.
"Oh no. It's Redan, the trainer." I say.
"The trainer?" Riku asks.
"What? You thought the LeiShens train themselves?" I ask him.
"He's got you there." Sora says.
"Ha! Look at what dragged to my arena! Fresh meat! You have encountered the mighty Xander!" Xander slams the roof with his staff, next thing we know we're surrounded by countless Dream Eaters. "Now! Kill your hundred or be killed!"
Oh great, just what we need.
The Dream Eaters come at us, one-by-one. Five-by-five. It's not a pretty fight. I stay close to Aqua, using two Keyblades to even the scales. They dare come close to her and I make them pay the price.
The numbers are endless. Sora decides to use one of his Limit abilities, one that requires Riku's help.
Wrath of the Heavens.
Sora enhanced in light. Riku enhanced in darkness, the two of them blasting rapidly, thrusting any Dream Eaters they charge against at lightspeed. Even faster then my Shadow Dash...if that is even possible. They knocked down a ton of Dream Eaters. For a final blow, they do an X sonic charge on a Dream Eater, and an explosion of light and darkness sets off on the Dream Eater.
The fight goes on for a while. Xander laughs with delight. "I am pleased! I could watch you dogs fight for hours!"
I growl softly as I take out the Hexicon. "Sorry, Xander...But we don't have that kind of time!" I flip the pages to the Ice spells and begin the level seven freeze spell. "Et, cum exercitu innumerabili modicum patietur a frigore hostium dedisset!"
My hands are coated in frost, then I slam them on the ground unleashing a large wave of ice. All the Dream Eaters the ice passes instantly freezes. We found our opening and make a run for it.
Xander is not pleased with our escape. "I only counted 99 kills, prince!"
"Then I guess we owe you one!" I shout, looking over my shoulder to Xander. We retreated to the Fifth Distract. Xander didn't follow us, and there are no Dream Eaters around. Nothing but rivers and the large greenhouse.
We don't let our guard down. "We've gotta find that Keyhole." Sora says.
"No kidding." I say.
"Yeah! Good luck with that!" We found a women with curly black hair. Very attractive, can charm any men to do her bidding. In her hand is a Tessen. Instead of a Black Robe, she's in a black and gray kimono with black ninja pants and boots. Complete with a black headband.
"Who is she?" Aqua asks.
"It's Selena. The kunoichi." I say.
"The name is Lexsane! And you're next stop is going to be the hospital!" Lexsane says.
"Is that suppose to be a joke? Cause it's terrible." Riku says, and it's true.
"Yeah...Selena's not well known for her sense of humor." I say.
Lexsane throws several throwing stars, front her left hand, at us then launches her tessen.. Riku blocks them with his Dark Shield. We didn't see the Tessen coming and it ends up hitting me on the side of my face, leaving a scratch on the cheek.
Lexsane catches her weapon and grins in delight. "She's too dangerous. We need to get out of here!" I say.
Lexsane acts fast, jumps off the building and lands in front of the greenhouse. She goes after Sora and Riku. They fight well but they fall so quickly.
I look around for an escape route. All I can find is a tunnel in the river. I shoot a fireball, destroying the metal bars. "This way!" I grab Aqua and head for the tunnel. Sora and Riku gets back on their feet. Lexsane comes after them, I see her coming and hold her off.
Sora and Riku helps Aqua into the tunnel, which turns out to be a downward slide. Once everyone is in, I rebel Lexsane and run for the tunnel, sliding down the sewers.
Lexsane reaches the tunnel, but just stops. "Uck! Like hell if I'm going down there..." Lexsane shrug her shoulders. "I'll let Xanamad handle them."
The tunnel leads us all the way to the Alleyway. Aqua just crashes against the metal bars, then Sora, then Riku and then it breaks down once I crash.
We all groan in pain. Sora, Riku and I struggles to stand back up. "Not exactly...one of your best escape plans."
I set the wheelchair back on its wheels. "Hey! At least we escaped!"
Sora and Riku helps Aqua sit back on the wheelchair. Now we wonder down the Alleyway. So far, we don't encounter any Dream Eaters, but we are greeted by a dagger raining down on us. Barely missed Sora by a hair. The boy ends up screaming like a girl and jumps into my arms. (I know Sora wouldn't be like that, but I wanted to do something like this) Sora looks at me, shocked, then nervously smiles. I give a stern look and drop him from my arms.
"Hello, twerp. Missed me?" We all look up the terraces of the hotel. It's a girl with short red hair, in a black robe. In each of her hands, a knife in between each of her fingers.
"Friend of yours?" Aqua asks me.
I give a bummed look. "Unfortunately, yes...she's my Babysitter, Amanda." There's no response, but I look at everyone. To my surprise, everyone gives me looks that shows they can't believe what I said. "...What? I was an infant and my parents were busy running the whole kingdom."
"What's the matter?" Amanada's Nobody starts talking in a baby voice. "You gonna go crying to your mommy and daddy?" Then she speaks normally. "Well, you will be once Xanamad gets through with you."
Xanamad is throwing daggers at us, one at a time, but fast. Riku and Sora deflect the daggers. What surprises us is that they keep coming. "We can't fight her. Retreat!" I say.
The three of us runs down the Alleyway, Xanamad runs across the terraces sending daggers down at us. At the end of the Alleyway, we make our escape in the broken hole of the fence, returning to First Distract.
"Back to where we started." Aqua says.
"Still no sign of a Keyhole." Sora says.
"Yeah. Couldn't find one under all that countless battles of the Dream Eaters and encountering the Nobodies of old friends of mine." I say, the second part of my sentence sounding sarcastic.
"What's wrong? Aren't we making a friendly reunion?" We're on our feet hearing that voice. A man walks out of the corner, in short brown hair with a bow and set of arrows.
I'm shocked beyond surprise. "No way! Uncle Douse?"
The man is mad. "It's Exodus! And I will show you what happens when you interfere with our plans!"
Exodus shoots arrows at us. We avoid them, but we discovered their explosive once they hit the building walls. Riku charges in and attacks Exodus. Exodus blocks his attack, but Sora makes a quick counter strike, directly at the head. Exodus is knocked down and we run towards Second Distract.
We wonder down Second Distract. "Can we go five minutes without encountering Dream Eaters or your little friends?" Riku asks.
"Like it's my fault they suddenly pop out of no where." I say.
"So, I guess that ruins my surprise." Up on top of the Gizmo Workshop, is a man with black hair, wielding two Katana swords.
"Oh great. Who are we up against this time?" Riku asks.
"Sentie, the Blacksmith." I say.
Sentie's Nobody jumps down, landing in front of us. "Not anymore. I am now Sixteen! I shall cut you boys down and make a new armor with your bones!"
I make a stand, a stern look on my face. "Sora, Riku. Get Aqua out of here." Sora and Riku doesn't question it, they do what I say. I face Sixteen on my own.
I activate my D-link with Chantal. Enhanced in light energy, wielding my two Keyblades. Sixteen comes at me, and I come at him a second later. We both fight. Block and parrying each others attacks. Every strike I make flashes musical notes, and the sounds of my attacks make music, much like how Sora and Riku attacked in the Dream World Symphony of Sorcery.
The power of music.
I perform one of my abilities, Melody Dance, my Keyblades twirl at high speed, of light and water, and I perform vicious slashes. Sixteen dodges most of them. For my final strike, Sixteen blocks and instantly does a disarming technique. It was so quick, I barely caught it and do anything to prevent it.
I leap back and shoot bolts of Water at him Sixteen comes at me, deflecting the water bolts. Once I land, I summon both of my Keyblades and continue attacking him. I then disarm Sixteen, while he's defenseless, I make a run for it, heading towards the Third Distract where Sora and Riku went to.
Sora, Aqua and Riku are all in the center of the area. I catch up to them, still linked to Chantal's spirit.
"I think we finally lost them." I say.
"Good...Need to catch my breath." Riku says.
Riku is right, the three of us is tired. Aqua's the lucky one since she doesn't have any use of her energy. "Well, at least the worst part is over." Aqua says.
She had to say that. The moment she did, something large lands right behind us. Big enough to cause a rumble. We all turned. It's a large Dream Eater, a brute gorilla with some kind of box for a body. Hockomonkey.
The beast roars fierce. "Or maybe not." Aqua says, speechlessly shocked.
I put Aqua at a safe distance, out of the battlefield. With our Keyblades summoned, we take on the Dream Eater.
My attacks are more powerful due to still being linked to Chantal, but not as brutal as Hockomonkey throws at us. The Dream Eater swings its fists, Riku avoids the attacks. Sora gets hit while I block once then get hit on the second.
Riku goes for the legs, swinging his Keyblade and burning with Dark Fire. Sora and I recovered and we hit the creature high. The Hockomonkey blocks my attack, but wasn't too lucky with Sora. I perform Faith, unleashing pillars of light surrounding me. They spin at high speed and expend.
Hockomonkey tucks its body into the box body, then turn into a hammer. It's one thing for this to happen in the Dream World, but the Real World...that's just strange. The...hammer...Mockomonkey smashes the ground. Didn't hurt us, unless it's directly on us, then we're crushed.
Hockomonkey turns back to normal, only his fists are replaced with boxing fists, now it's attacks hurts even more. I gather close to Sora and Riku and cast Cura. "Heal!" Sora and Riku and I got our injures healed and energy restored.
Riku and I block the fists while Sora slide dashes on Hockomonkey's face and then does a Blitz.
Our fight against the Dream Eater grows hard. For Aqua, she's bummed that she's sitting on the sidelines. Now she sees she's better off staying on the islands.
Hockomonkey tucks its body inside the box. We don't bother to attack. We've faced this strategy once and our attacks are all blocked. All of its bouncing, something wild is happening inside. Soon enough, it bursts out of the box, unleashing its stored power.
I'm the only one standing, and what's worst, the Hockmonkey goes berserk. It roars, drumming it's body and then viciously attacks. I dodge and block almost every attack. Sora and Riku recovers and attack from behind while the Dream Eater is focused on me. Riku even enters Darkest Fear during the attacks.
Hockomonkey finally calms down, and I'm able to unleash my full power of the Chantal Dimension Link.
Harmony's Heart.
Enhanced in great light, my attacks are swift and brutal. Faster then the speed of sound. Literally, no noise is made. Instead with each strike, an orb of musical light over my head grows large. After my twentieth strike, I stop, rising my hand to the orb. After a moment, massive waves of light are unleashed.
The Hockomonkey is defeated.
The large Dream Eater roars in agony. It stumbles back, crashes to the ground, slowly fading away. Once it's completely gone, we all collapse in exhaustion.
"Oh man...That was close." Sora says.
"Fighting the Dream Eaters in the real world is harder then I thought." Riku says.
"Agreed...Even I'm at my limit." I say.
As we're on our knees exhausted, shimmering light appears right over our heads. We look up. To our surprise, it's a Keyhole.
"There! The first keyhole!" Riku says.
"Let's do this." Sora says.
All together, we get back on our feet, aim our Keyblades for the Keyblade. Each of them shoots light into the Keyhole. With the clicking sound, the Keyhole is locked and it glows in a bright light, getting brighter and brighter until it's blinding.
Once the light clears, all the Dream Eaters are gone, and the Nightmare in the broken sky vanished. This world is back to normal.
"We did it!" Sora says, raising his Keyblade.
"Don't get too excited, we only have twelve more to go." I say. "There'll be time for celebration later."
Aqua wheels towards us. Once we're gathered, we're all cautious. A faint sound hits our ears. The sound of...clapping. Very slow. Clap...Clap...Clap.
We look around for the source of the clapping, until Sora finds it on the wall on top of the corner fountain. We're all on alert, it's the mysterious man in the mask.
"My. My...I must say, I'm actually impressed." He says.
"You!" I brace myself to attack. "You're that man from the tournament! Are you working with the Shadowmoon!?"
The mysterious man laughs. "...Oh, no. You are sadly mistaken." He snaps his fingers. For a second, we thought Dream Eaters are going to appear. But instead, seven corridors. Each of them, the Nobodies of my people come out.
Xalrune
Rexpet
Exodus
Sixteen
Xanamad
Lexsane
Xander
"Behold! My team: The Onyx Nightmare!" Saying that, his mask exhales steam.
"The Onyx Nightmare?" Sora asks.
"I've never heard of such a thing. Not even in the Realm of Darkness." Aqua says.
"We are a small secret organization. Hiding out in the deepest of the dark nightmarish abyss." The mysterious man says.
"I could care less about your people." I say. "What I want to know is..." I suddenly stop.
I'm in my thought. I sudden start to realize something. Sora, Riku and Aqua notice my lost expression, but doesn't say anything. What I've been wondering since the moment I met him six months ago. Who is he? Then it hits me.
"Ventus..." I whispered.
"What did you say?" Riku asks.
"The name..."
It all comes to me. This man has a connection to Ventus. The way the kid reacted when he made his first appearance. The feeling he should know him but he doesn't really know who he is, he even wields a Keyblade and fights like Ventus. Plus, on the night of the Keyblade War Tournament, after I defeated him, he had his Keyblade at my throat, and whispered to me his name.
"I should have known when he given me his name." I open my eyes, giving a stern look directly at him. "Xusvent...You're Ventus's Nobody!"
Me saying that sends everyone else speechless, especially Aqua. Xusvent is silent at first, then speaks. "You are certainly slow for someone in the fast lane." Mechanical breathing then exhale steam through the teeth. "That is right...I am the Nobody of Ventus."
"I never knew Ventus had a Nobody." Aqua says.
"But...that's impossible. He never turned into a Heartless." Riku's serious at first, then looks at Aqua and I confused. "Did he...?"
"No, He didn't. But he did lose his heart once." I say. "Don't you remember...He destroyed the χ-blade that he and Vanitas turned into. By doing that, his heart left him, sending him into a deep slumber." I look directly back at Xusvent. "Just what are you plotting?"
"That's something for me to know...and for you to never find out." Xusvent says. "You may have found one of the Keyblades, but you will never find the rest. If I were you four, I would give up before trying to digging deep into the darkness. For all who dares interfere with our work, shall be drowned into the Nightmarish Abyss!"
Xusvent turns and vanishes into the shadowy mists, then one by one, the rest of the Onyx Nightmare disappears.
The four of us are left speechless, while glaring at the place Xusvent was even through he is no longer there. Onyx Nightmare...whoever they are, we all know it's bad.
They must be stopped.