Well, I ended up taking a week off due to some job pressure and convention issues. I'm glad to give you all another update, however. Here is where the true experiences of an anime convention will begin for our young heroes. I do hope you guys enjoy.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. I own only my own copies of each game, a plastic keyblade, a Sora wig, and some pieces of jewelry. But as for the franchise itself and its characters, I do not own.
Within 20 minutes, Sora and company found themselves cramped in a long line for convention badges. Each person within the group harbored different feelings as they were moved along the line.
"Wow, I didn't think this line would get so long so fast," Riku stated, both surprised and a little impressed. "Do you think we should've woken up a little earlier?"
"Hm, I'm almost wondering if it would've made a difference," Namine stated casually with a slightly grouchy Roxas next to her.
Irritated, Roxas said, "We probably could've gotten down here earlier, but some people wanted to try and sleep in!" He sent his glare in the direction of those that had slept in.
While Sora and Ventus didn't really pay his comment any mind (with Sora marveling at the cosplayers in line and Ventus struggling to keep his balance in heels), Terra frowned slightly and Axel made a casual shrug and said, "Sorry, Roxas. But I have to get my 40 winks each night."
"Oh, don't give me that. If Saix came with us, he would've dragged you off that couch, kicking and screaming!" At Roxas's accusation, Axel gave a slight sigh in defeat before they all moved forward in the line.
"Speaking of which, why didn't he come with us?" Aqua asked. "If it's because of the hotel's space…"
"Nah, it wasn't that, Aqua," Axel admitted. "Isa just felt a little uncomfortable traveling with us, what with what went down when we were taking out Xehanort and all."
"But, he knows we aren't holding any grudges, right?"
"Heh, you might not, Aqua, but he feels at least a couple of people here would…" With that, Axel's emerald eyes swept over Roxas and Sora, the latter still watching the cosplayers. Aqua simply frowned, not really sure how to respond to the redhead's words.
After another minute, the line shifted forward once again. As everyone moved forward, Xion gripped Riku's shoulder, wobbling a little. Slightly concerned, Riku looked over at her and asked, "Hey, are you alright?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Still learning how to keep balance in these heels," Xion said with a nervous laugh.
"Come on, Xion. You used to wear heeled shoes in the organization, didn't you?" Roxas asked.
"Yes, but those heels were a little thicker. They had more stability than these shoes do…"
"Well, I sympathize with you, Xion," Ventus piped up, holding onto Terra's arm with a death grip. "How do you girls wear these? Oddly enough, I'm getting used to the dress… if only a little… but these heels are murder!"
"Well, it's something that even girls have to get used to, Ven," Kairi mentioned casually before following Sora as the line shifted again.
The group stood there, quietly conversing with each other for a while, until an unfamiliar voice said, "Hey, are you Sora and Kairi dressed as Ariel and Eric?"
Sora and Kairi turned their attention to the speaker to see a girl with a short black wig and wearing a brown jacket with a red scarf around her neck. Smiling, Sora said, "Yep."
"Wow! Those are great cosplays! Do you mind if I take a picture?"
"Oh, sure, go ahead," Kairi said excitedly before placing her arms around Sora. He merely grinned, and the two posed as the young girl took a picture, thanked them, and walked away. Once she left, Kairi squealed in delight and said, "Wow! Our first picture at this convention!"
Everyone smiled, finding the whole scene delightful. After a moment, Aqua said, "I guess we should be expecting a lot more people coming up to take pictures."
Aqua's words seemed to spark thought in Kairi's mind, and she asked, "Oh, that reminds me, did anyone bring a camera so we can get pictures?"
"Don't worry, I have one right here," Roxas said, pulling out a small camera from his pocket. "Pence lent this to me back in Twilight Town. He said we could borrow it for our trip."
"Awesome!"
"We have to make sure to get pictures of all of us so we can show Mickey and the others."
"Yeah." Roxas smirked a little mischievously and said, "And I know who to get first."
With that, Roxas peered around the line and pointed the camera's lens in Ventus's direction, only for the younger boy to squeak and place Terra in front of him. "Keep that thing away from me! Aren't you guys happy enough that I'm crossdressing? We don't need a picture of it!"
"But how else will we get everyone to believe this?"
"Hey, Roxas," Terra stated sternly before pushing the camera away. "Why can't you save that for after we get our badges?"
Roxas frowned but relented, figuring that he'd get Ventus later. "Fine, but like Aqua said, we have to get everyone on camera at some point."
"Yeah, yeah," Terra mumbled, not willing to admit he wasn't really fond of posing for pictures either: regardless of what he'd be wearing.
A few more minutes passed before the heroes of light finally reached the counter to purchase their convention badges. All of them were fortunate that the munny they gathered in their travels automatically changed into the proper currency for each world they went to; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to buy much in any world. So, once they paid for their badges and picked up their programs, they were out of the line and out in the lobby of the convention center.
"Isn't this neat, guys? Our first set of convention badges! If the worlds stay safe, maybe we can do something like this again!" Sora said cheerfully before looking at his badge. On the front was his name, written with a blue sharpie, and the badge was decorated with a picture of a green-haired anime girl with a stuffed panda and the words "A-Kon 2018".
As he marveled his badge, Riku said, "Alright, don't get ahead of yourself, Sora. We should see how this convention goes first."
The brunette nodded, still smiling brightly. After a moment of watching the cosplayers and flipping through their programs, Namine asked, "So, what do you guys want to do first? It doesn't look like many events start for at least another hour or two. And we can't even enter the dealer room yet."
"Well, why don't we just get a feel for the layout then?" Axel suggested. "That way, we don't get lost."
"Could we maybe sit and take a break first, though?" Ventus asked, looking around for a free chair but sadly finding none. "My feet are killing me…"
"What?! Already?"
"Hey! It's not like I'm a girl! I can't instantly get used to these heels!"
As some of the group either laughed at Ventus or tried to help him feel better about his shoes, Terra and Aqua looked around the lobby area, watching people sitting on the floor and eating food, messing with handheld gaming devices, and even taking pictures or videos. A little impressed, Terra said, "Wow, they're even making videos?"
"They must really like getting into their roles," Aqua mentioned next to him as she watched a pair seemingly act out a scene like they were a couple. Giggling, she said, "It must be fun to put on a show for other people."
"Yeah…" Terra glance back over at Ventus's still slightly wobbly form, and then a sudden mischievous smirk appeared on his face. Before Aqua could ask him about it, the older man walked over and said, "Let me help you there, Ven."
"Huh? What do you-" Ventus suddenly gasped as he felt Terra grab him around the waist. As he lifted his friend into a bridal carry, the young blond sputtered out confused protests and blushed a deep red. After several seconds, he finally got out a coherent statement. "Terra! What are you doing?!"
"You said your feet were killing you, right?" With a slight teasing look on his face, he finished, "I just thought I'd help my 'princess' feel a little better."
"Oh my god…" Ventus buried his face into Terra's chest in order to hide his embarrassed blush. Meanwhile, cosplayers around the group of friends let out "d'awwwws" and some even got out their cameras to take pictures or videos.
Smiling, Terra thought to himself, 'Good, now to give these guys a show.'
"Terra? Don't you think you're taking this a little too far?" Riku asked, taking note of how uncomfortable Ventus looked and how much attention they were getting.
Aqua decided to speak up as well and said, "Riku's right. Ven is already feeling weird with this whole group cosplay. We should give him a minute to-"
"Hey, I'm just trying to protect 'Aurora' from your evil clutches, 'Maleficent'," Terra responded, giving Aqua a playful smirk.
"What? What do you-"
"What? Are you scared because you know your powers can't defeat me?" Terra now felt himself getting a little too into his role, not only because of who he was dressed as, but also because he felt like this was his way of feeling like the real Maleficent couldn't defeat him anymore.
Aqua gaped only for a second as she noticed the cameras on them and saw just what Terra was doing. Sending a glare his way for forcing them to act out so suddenly and out of nowhere, she growled, "Oh, that's it. You are so asking for it, you foolish 'prince'!"
Terra felt a mixture of triumph at pulling Aqua into their act and dread for what Aqua could do to him if she got her hands on him. So, he immediately ran off to the first immediate hall of panel rooms while Aqua pursued. After watching them disappear around a corner, with several cosplayers following with their video recorders, Sora and his friends stood quiet for a moment before the majority of them let out laughter: Axel and Roxas in deep amusement while the Destiny Island trio did so in slight confusion. Namine and Xion, on the other hand, simply stayed confused. After a while, Xion finally just asked, "Um, what exactly was that?"
"I don't know, but it was pretty random," Sora said after calming himself.
"I'll tell you what that was," Roxas said as he wiped the tears out of his eyes. "That was Terra tapping into his inner spontaneous actor! If we experience something more random than that this weekend, I'll be surprised."
"Heh heh, yeah," Axel mumbled, still giving off mirthful laughter. Once everyone was calm, he said, "But in all seriousness, perhaps we should follow them so we can explore this convention center together."
"Yeah, you're right. Come on, guys," Riku said, taking the lead as everyone followed behind him. As everyone went down the hall that they saw their "Sleeping Beauty" cast run down, they all shared different thoughts about what had just happened. One thought was shared among them, however.
If Aqua truly was angry with Terra, he was truly going to get it.
And there you have it. So, is everyone okay with the fact that I'm using A-Kon for the convention the KH cast is going to? As I was thinking of where they could go, I remembered the first truly big anime convention I ever went to. So I figured this would be a fun place for them to go. Now, as for why 2018? Well, with KH 2.8 releasing early 2017, I'm just making a prediction that KH 3 will release either late 2017 or early to mid 2018. And since A-Kon is usually an early June convention, I just figured the timelines would add up. (of course, if it's revealed that KH 3 releases after that point, then this won't make a lot of sense...)
Speaking of trailers, who got to see the latest opening cinematic for KH 0.2 last week? The graphics and music look positively stunning, and as a fan of the BBS trio, it did trigger some feels on my end. Of course, with the final image in the trailer, it reminded me why I put up my "Returning Wayfinder" trilogy before more trailers or cinematic scenes were revealed, because I feel like my vision for "Fishing in the Dark" is definitely not happening anymore. And since I already got a negative review telling me that the story wouldn't happen because of certain plot details in previous games (despite the fact that countless other fanfics do similar things that I did), I'm almost expecting more negative reviews.
... Sorry for that little ramble. When I get really excited about things, I just tend to go into great detail about things, and then I talk about things that aren't relevant to the current topic... Anyways, for those of you that are first reading this chapter on October 31st, 2016, Happy Halloween! I hope you guys have a great night, and please continue to follow this story!