Chapter 4: The First World Part 3: Departing
(Opening Theme: Knew Day from Hai to Gensou no Grimgar OP)
-Surikizudarake no kinou o kurikaeshite-
Fukato, Yuuta, and Sen are standing in the midst of the Lanes Between looking around, atop of nothingness, with the space around them rippling like water.
-Bokura wa hiraku kibou no asu o-
With a glimpse of Vyros, the three look into his direction before he vanishes into white lights, which shoots everywhere making stars appear, lighting the blue surrounding with small dots of light.
-12 seconds of music-
Title card fades in with the trio walking across the scene, still in the Lanes Between.
-Kono chippoke na ryoute ni nani ga nokotteru darou-
Fukato holds out his Kingdom Key, alongside Yuuta and Sen holding out their respective staff and sword. A light then shoots down behind the tip of Fukato's Keyblade and he puts it down, seeing Sora, Donald and Goofy.
-Aoi da koe wa sora e chitteitta-
The six put their hands together in a circle and bring it up into the air together.
-Te ni ireta genjitsu wa kusundete me no mae ga mienakunattemo-
Fukato stands in complete darkness as Vyros appears from behind him looking over his shoulder. Another figure cloaked in white appears too with a symbol of the roman numeral one on their right shoulder from the other side.
-Issho nara nagaku tsudzuku kono michi o susundeyukeru-
Fukato turns around to see nobody but light flashes as Sora appears giving him a hand.
-Hokori ni mamireta kizuna ga tsunaideku-
Sora pushes Fukato from world to world, showing Traverse Town, Wonderland, a world with a sign that says Anteiku, Olympus Coliseum, and Deep Jungle.
-Kako to mirai senaka awase no bokura wa-
Yuuta, Sen, Donald, and Goofy, await at the end of the trip as more random worlds pass by.
-Machigaidarake no kotae o kurikaeshite-
The white figure with the roman numeral one watches from a distance, looking over the six, holding a thin chain in his hand (looking like a necklace that is silver).
-Hikari o motome te o nobasu yo-
Once they are out of sight, he walks away in the other direction, dropping the necklace revealing the crown shaped necklace Sora wears.
-Nandodatte-
It goes back to the six having fun on their journey by playing board games together, fighting off small Heartless, and roaming around the Lanes Between in the Gummi Ship.
Fukato opened the door to be greeted by a bright light shining from the other side. There was a lit statue of two dogs, both built with gold. Fukato and Sora gazed down at the small clear district. To the left of them was an empty house, anything but bright inside. To the right, there was a staircase that led down to the empty floor.
Sora looked around, probably to see if Yuuta or Sen were here but found no one else but the two. Perhaps everyone else fled inside to safety since the appearance of the Heartless here. Fukato took the staircase down slowly and Sora followed.
"Hmmm, where do you think they are?" Sora asked.
"Probably goofing off or taking their sweet time," Fukato jokingly replied. He felt at ease, even knowing the upcoming danger that was ahead. The Guard Armor should appear at any second. But there was something that was off putting since he had met the Apostles of Light, as if there were things to come and change.
"You said to meet here right?" Sora bit his lip wondering what Fukato could know.
"Hm? Oh yeah I did," Fukato muttered, distracted about the Apostles of Light. "Why do you ask?"
"Well… I don't know. I guess I was just wondering why here and not the Accessory Shop with Cid," Sora said, looking down conflicted. "Wouldn't that have been safer?"
Fukato chuckled. "Probably." He shrugged and kept walking.
"Jeez, you're really adventurous," Sora mumbled under his breath.
Fukato turned around, holding his hand out to his ears as if trying to hear what Sora said. "What was that?"
Sora shook his head with his hands in front of him, waving it off. "Nothing!"
Fukato hummed and continued down the steps and then approached the golden statue of the two dogs. It's brilliant sculpting was one to be jealous of. It was meticulously designed with great effort as the ears were detailed as the dog's expressions were too. It almost felt real even though it was made of gold. The spotlights enhanced its shine beautifully. Sora stood in awe seeing the statues.
Fukato turned to the right, his attention on the broken pipe and electrical cord. Sparks were flying out of it as the cord had been cut by some sharp force but the broken pipe had suggested it was blunt force instead. Looking back from where they came from, they saw Yuuta and Sen emerge from the staircase.
Fukato smiled brightly seeing his two friends as they were reunited. Suddenly from the sky, they all heard screaming as two animal-like figures dropped onto Sora's back, knocking his breath out of him. The trio turned around to see Donald and Goofy laying on top of Sora, looking as Sora had the Kingdom Key summoned.
Donald and Goofy took a moment to get themselves together and saw the Keyblade in Sora's hand. "Wow!" They both let out.
The ground suddenly shook as pillars of stone rose from the ground blocking off every way out, from the staircase to the door to the First District and the door to the abandoned house with the fire sign. The six huddled together back to back seeing as they were in danger. Soldiers appeared in every corner, totaling at least eight of them.
(OST: Night of Fate from Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix)
"It's now or it's never," Fukato said as he ran towards a Soldier and tried to cut it down, only to be blocked by another Soldier who used its claws to parry the attack. The other one that Fukato had in front of him spiraled around and kicked him in the chest before landing on the ground and hopping around uncontrollably. Fukato backed away a little to get some room before dashing right back in.
Yuuta stayed in the center of the district and casted icicles at an incoming Soldier, only to miss and barely dodge out of the way. Sen turned around and ran up to the Soldier that attacked Yuuta and stabbed it in the back.
"You gotta have a little finesse, Yuuta," Sen quipped, laughing to himself as he stabbed another Soldier that tried to sneak up on him.
"Shut up and just clear these guys," Yuuta retorted. Yuuta whirled his staff in the air to call another block of ice down on the Soldier that Sen had stabbed. It struck it in the chest, dissolving it into darkness.
Sora was doing much better than Fukato was as he backed a Soldier into the wall and flung his Keyblade erratically, hitting the Soldier Heartless multiple times and forcing its heart out of itself, killing it. Sora inwardly congratulated himself and then turned to Fukato who was backed to a wall, surrounded by three Soldiers.
"Fukato!" Sora called out. Donald turned around and casted Thunder on the enemies, striking each of them at least once each with the bolts. Donald's magic was strong enough that the enemies disappeared. Goofy swung his shield at the last remaining Heartless and the battle was finally over.
But Fukato, Yuuta, and Sen knew better than that as they knew what was going to happen.
(OST ends)
"Are you okay?" Sora asked as he patted Fukato's back.
"I'm fine," Fukato nodded, reassuring that he was definitely okay and wasn't hurt. Sora bobbed his head in return as Yuuta pointed at the sky. The six looked up to see a blink of light. Then several pieces of armor came crashing down — Goofy jumping out of the way.
(OST: Danger Zone from Persona 3 Portable - Female Route)
"Get ready!" Donald shouted. "Here it comes!" The arms of the Guard Armor punched the ground resulting in a large shockwave the fumbled Sora to fall on top of Fukato.
"Agh!" Fukato felt the entire weight of Sora on top of him as the Guard Armor slowly approached the two Keyblade Wielders. Sen moved behind the thing and whacked at the legs, only for it to fail as his sword was deflected from the sturdiness of the boots. Yuuta backed him up and casted blizzard on the legs, freezing the legs in place.
"Now Sen!" Yuuta demanded. Sen nodded and smashed the ice with the blunt of his sword and the legs of the Guard Armor shattered. It pulled back and flew higher into the air where the six couldn't reach it. The Guard Armor used its claws to bring its body into a cannon form and a burst of light charged from within the hollowness of the body.
"Uh…" Sora held his Keyblade in front of him, ready to block whatever was coming. The light shot out as a ball and struck the ground near Donald and Goofy, knocking them out of the way. The Guard Armor strafed to the side and aimed at Yuuta. The light inside charged again and Yuuta casted another Blizzard spell against it. However, the Guard Armor shot the charged light piercing through the shard of ice and smacked him in the body wholly. Yuuta flew towards the wall and immediately fainted.
Sen and Fukato moved in circles around the Guard Armor, waiting for it to strike again as Sora was strafing to the walls slowly. The Guard Armor turned towards both Sen and Fukato, who were both standing near each other, and charged again. Sen ran forward in hopes to distract the Heartless, but it still set its aim to Fukato. He in turn held up his Kingdom Key with both hands defensively, grasping each end strongly. Sen threw his sword into the air like a javelin and it struck it in the left arm, which made the Guard Armor immediately turned downwards to Sen and shot the charged light. It swiftly hit Sen full force and he was down on the ground.
Fukato gasped as Sora ran next to him. "Sen took out one of the arms. All that's left is the body and the other arm," Fukato stated. Sora nodded as the Guard Armor lowered down to their level floating in the middle of the Third District. Sora darted under the Guard Armor and slid under it striking its body with the Kingdom Key. Fukato jumped into the air (which he was surprised that he was able to jump over his height) and sliced through the helmet and the arm in quick succession.
Fukato landed next to Sora who got up from the ground. They both turned to see the arm destroyed but the main body was still pretty lively. The Guard Armor spun where it floated and Fukato knew what the next attack it was going to use. Fukato pat Sora's back and he turned. "He's going to spin to get enough momentum to create a whirlwind around itself. Then, it'll strike." Fukato informed Sora, carefully planning his next form of attack.
"Okay. How about we strike it once it heads our way?" Sora proposed calmly. "Maybe if we strike it at the right time, it'll make it dizzy!"
"Let's try it," Fukato agreed. As the winds picked up around the hollow armor, Fukato and Sora readied their Keyblades. Blue and white stripes of lights formed around the armor, showing that the winds were becoming very fast. The armor then spun towards the two boys. In a moment's flash, they thrust their Keyblades together at the incoming armor. The tips of the Keyblades pierced through the thick metallic plating with ease. With the support of the spinning motion the Heartless put itself in, the winds pierced through the cracks and sliced itself open resulting in the armor splitting in half and past the two boys.
(OST ends)
As the battle ended, the walls shook rapidly and crumbled away. Sora pulled a large glass bottle from inside his pocket with three green stars and a yellow sphere inside. He yanked the cork out and tossed the potion in the air and the elements inside dispersed, healing Sen, Yuuta, Donald, and Goofy. He harshly let himself breathe turning around to Fukato.
"Nice teamwork!" Sora held his hand up for a high five. Fukato gladly accepted it and clapped his hand against Sora's earning a well recognized grin.
"You too!" Fukato smiled.
Sen and Yuuta approached the two comrades, both tired and very well injured from the fight they had barely endured. Donald and Goofy whispered to each other confused.
"Weren't those the guys we saw at the First District?" Donald quietly mumbled to Goofy.
"Yeah… and I told you they probably knew something," Goofy wittedly replied.
"Urgh… but that means there were two Keyblade Bearers we were searching for and not just one!" Donald pointed out. "Was the King… lying to us?"
Goofy tipped his hand under his mouth, or chin. "I think we gotta make a decision ourselves here Donald. But maybe the King was misinformed?" He gulped, hoping that Donald wouldn't yell or smack him for saying such a thing about the King.
"I dunno… but I guess we should have them both. It could make finding the King a lot easier," Donald told Goofy.
The boys turned to the dog and duck who were deciding on what they would do. Sora approached them.
"We've been looking for you… and you," Donald spoke as he pointed to Sora and then Fukato. Noticing the pause in Donald's voice, Fukato halfway glared at him.
"So, you were looking for me? And Fukato?" Sora pointed at himself and Fukato who walked up to them with Sen and Yuuta following behind.
"Uh huh!" Both Donald and Goofy nodded.
"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," a gruff low voice said from behind Sora and Fukato. They turned around to see Leon and Yuffie standing coolly, with Yuffie more carefree.
"Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel," Goofy suggested quite politely. Fukato, Sen and Yuuta knew it was their only choice to find and return to their world.
"I wonder if I can find Riku and Kairi…," Sora lowered his head.
"We're wondering if we can return to our world…," Fukato looked away.
"Of course," Donald answered to the two.
Donald and Goofy turned to each other and started to whisper. "Are you sure?" Goofy questioned.
"Who knows? But we need them to come with us to help us find the King," Donald replied.
"Sora, Fukato, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends and your world," Leon sternly stated.
"Yeah, I guess," Sora still didn't lift his head.
"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?" Donald explained, trying to at least comfort the boys who were distraught.
Goofy came into the picture interrupting Donald. "Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" Goofy chuckled. Donald pushed him out of the way and resumed talking.
"This boat runs on happy faces." Fukato could feel himself either dying inside or digging a hole into the ground. He suddenly remembered how light-hearted and childish this could be. He didn't mind it, but he didn't like it either. He still enjoyed it no matter what though.
"Happy?" Sora muttered. He closed his eyes and stared straight down. Silence filled the air as Sora was still staring down.
Suddenly, Sora tossed his head up with a big toothy smile. Both Donald and Goofy laughed their asses off from it. Fukato, Sen, and Yuuta awkwardly chuckled.
"That's one funny face!" Goofy managed to say within his fit of laughter.
"Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys," Sora turned to Fukato, most likely asking if he would come too. Fukato nodded. "We'll go with you."
"Donald Duck!" Donald introduced himself.
"Name's Goofy."
"I'm Sora."
"I'm Fukato Arakawa."
"Sen Ikutsuki."
"And Yuuta Kamiya." The six had their hands on top of each other in a circle.
"All for one, one for all," Goofy said looking at each and every one of them.
—
"Those little squirts took down that Heartless! Who'd have thought it?!" A menacing voice grumbled.
"Such is the power of the Keyblade. Those children's strength are not of their own," Another male holding a staff with the tip shaped as a snake responded.
A horrendous voice began to spoke out of an octopus-like woman. "Why don't we turn them into a Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough."
"And the brats' friends are the King's lackeys," A male pirate figure added on. "Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them!"
"You're no prize yourself," a terrifying voice from a large sack retorted. Then, he cackled at his joke.
"Shut up!" The pirate yelled back.
"Enough," a witch began walking towards the group surrounding the table in the dark room with a small light gleaming in from the ceiling high up. "The Keyblade has chosen them. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful."
"And how do you know that?" A white figure entered the room through a large double door glaring at each of the villainous figures, not even a hint from the aura he gave off.
"What?! Who are you?" The octopus woman began approaching the intruder.
"The name you can call me is First. Now shut it, Ursula," The woman Ursula was taken aback and began backing towards the table.
"Why you!" The pirate began.
"You too, Captain Hook," the white cloaked male stepped forward unto the light given by the ceiling finally revealing himself unto the others. "Hm… I suppose if anything, if you guys were to defeat Fukato himself, then I wouldn't need to interfere."
"What?" The sack of leaking bugs whined.
"Oh? Are you not up to the task? Then perhaps I should eliminate you if you're not willing to do so, Oogie Boogie," the man proposed.
"Urgh, no one messes with the great Oogie Boogie!" Oogie Boogie countered angered that the man had gotten to him.
"Stand down, Hades, Jafar," the witch approached the cunning male.
"But Maleficent!" Jafar growled, furious about the intruder's behavior.
"He brings a good point. It seems evident he too is planning for at least… one of their impending destruction. Am I wrong, First?" Maleficent evilly grinned, plotting something within.
First slowly nodded. "Fear not. As long as you can do what I want, I won't feel the need to destroy you…" He nonchalantly said. "Right now, I've sent two of my group to seek them out in Wonderland."
"Oh, where that conniving feline is," Jafar remarked.
First glanced at Jafar and then back at Maleficent, inspecting each of them. "They'll shortly report back to me once they've come into contact with them. And I'll tell you things that I know then. For now… go ahead and think of a plan to either escape my clutches or of a way to crush Fukato." He turned around and walked away disappearing into a portal of light. Maleficent's face scrunched with madness.
"He thinks he can toy with us! Why that little! Whatever the case, we will make his plan backfire," Maleficent smirked coyly and then she started laughing. The others joined in with her now finally coming up with a plan against First.
—
First walked into a white room that felt like a sanctuary with the white roses and the white beddings of flowers. The white table was fitted with white chairs. Looking outside the white curtains were a view of Twilight Town and the mansion was a bit further, deep inside a forest.
"Why'd you go and even bother talking to them?" Another cloaked male asked. On his shoulder bore the roman numeral II. "You know it is pointless."
"I know… but I also know that now they'll at least try to follow my commands, even if they plan on betraying me," First admitted. "But even so, I'm used to it. After all… I once betrayed someone."
Second fiercely looked over First. "You mean to say yourself on that part," he mentioned. "You need to get over it. You can't blame yourself for what happened." Second looked away.
First walked over to the window looking at the sunset that never moved. "Maybe I shouldn't. But either way, I was the one who could've prevented it."
Second stared at the sunset that glimmered First's white cloak bathing them both in the warm sunlight. He turned around the walked out through a white door leaving First to look over the town alone.
—
The gang were in the middle of the First District where they had fought Leon, even standing across from Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith. Leon sternly looked at both Fukato and Sora. "Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you," Leon advised, caring for both of the young boys. "We don't know how far the Heartless have spread."
"Check out the shops here. They've got some pretty neat stuff," Yuffie snickered.
"This is from all of us," Aerith said as she handed Fukato 500 munny. She softly smiled and offered her motherly hug to him. "Spend it as you see fit. And this is from Leon." Leon looked away blushing. Aerith handed Fukato an Elixir. He held up the golden royal-like potion and inspected it. It was massive.
"Thank you," Fukato managed to say as he looked around, noticing he had forgotten about his backpack. He then saw Leon toss the small backpacks at Fukato, Sen, and Yuuta.
"I think those belong to you too… although I found it empty," Leon scratched his head and looked away trying his best to keep a straight face.
"Good luck!" Yuffie yelled.
"I hope you find what you're looking for," Aerith softly said.
"Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up," Leon firmly stated, looking Fukato into the eye and then at Sora, giving each an earnest stare. Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith walked off. Leon turned his head around to stare at Fukato, almost intensely before turning back to the way he was walking. Fukato felt weird as it was kind of nostalgic. He hummed and turned to Donald and Goofy, alongside Sora, Sen, and Yuuta.
"The Gummi Ship is outside that gate," Donald informed as he eyed the large double door gates with the sign "See you again!"
"The what?" Sora cocked his head.
"That's our ship!" Donald answered.
"Wait til' you see it!" Goofy jumped in excitement.
"Hold on!" Donald stopped Goofy as he handed a strange red orb to both Sora and Fukato. "This is for you." Fukato felt the heat in his body rise to very high temperatures as the red orb glowed. However, it didn't hurt him one bit. Instead he felt more resilient to fire. Rather, he felt he could just discharge all the heat that built up inside him. From the tip of his Keyblade, fire spurred and shot into the air, dispersing before it hit any buildings. Fukato yelped, now feeling like Yuuta.
"Whoa!" Yuuta was astounded as he thought only he would be able to use magic with Donald.
"Now you can use magic too. Goofy, give him that other thing!" Donald yelled at Goofy.
"What?"
"You know."
"Oh, yeah!" Goofy handed both Fukato and Sora a white orb to touch. Holding in his hand, Fukato visioned an image of himself rolling. He felt as if he could do it in the nick of time. He snapped out of it and handed it to Sora, who after touching it returned it to Goofy. "Abilities allow you to do many different things!" Goofy briefly explained. "We should try and look for them on the way."
"Okay, is that it?" Sora asked. "Let's get going!"
"Not 'til we're ready!" Donald scolded Sora. While small, a cricket wearing a suit and a top hat walked over to them.
"Well, I see big adventures coming their way! Looks like it's up to me to keep track of it all in my journal," the small cricket announced. "Ah, Jiminy Cricket, that's the name!" He said as he bowed. Fukato kneeled down to the small critter and held out a hand to him. He gladly walked over to Fukato's hand. Fukato took him up and placed him into a pocket on his sleeveless jacket.
"I think you'll fit well there," Fukato commented.
"Oh boy…" Yuuta sighed.
"This'll take a while before we can actually get home huh?" Sen complained. Yuuta nodded agreeing with Sen. "Guess we'll just have to roll with it."
"Onward we go!" Fukato yelled as he merrily pranced over to the gates with the rest following.
(Ending Theme: Kotonoha by Piko)
-Kotonoha tada tada omofu hodo toozakaru kage moyou ni hibiki wataru-
Image pulls out to see Fukato looking in Jiminy's Journal while writing inside his own journal. His face smiling as Sora is in the background piloting the Gummi Ship with Yuuta and Sen fighting over who is next with Sora slightly afraid. Donald is shaking his head in disappointment while Goofy is asleep on his chair. Jiminy stands on Fukato's shoulder reading what Fukato is writing.
-Semishigure (music)-
It pans out further with the Gummi Ship flying off into the distant stars as it fades to black with a gloved hand holding an orb seeing the entire thing, revealing First looking.
-Utaeba koi tome no naku afuru-
Fukato lays on his bed inside the Gummi Ship looking through his phone with Sora amazed on what it is. Fukato tries to text back to his friends but there isn't any signal.
-Saku no wa hana-
Yuuta and Donald are reading books on spells and testing the blizzard spell as it shoots surprising Yuuta.
-Yume maboroshi-
Sen is being trained by Goofy on how to use a shield to fight but ultimately fails.
-Sore wa sore wa toki no kanata e-
Vyros is floating in the middle of the Lanes Between casually looking around as stars blink out one by one.
-Yagate yagate utakata to kiete iku darou-
First then grasps darkness and stretches it out to blind everything.
-Kotonoha tada tada hitori kiri ukabete wa kurikaeshite-
Fukato fights head on with countless Heartless with Sora behind him backing him up. Then, light floods around and both of them look to see First descending down with other members of the Apostles of Light.
-Kakera wo sagashite-
Then, Yuuta and Donald cast Thunder while Sen and Goofy both throw their weapons like a boomerang to deflect a few incoming attacks from the Apostles of Light.
-Soredemo tada tada omofu hodo toozakaru kage moyou ni hibiki wataru-
Fukato is standing in the middle of Dive into the Heart as Vyros approaches him with the contract in hand. Fukato holds the Keyblade in hand as the stained glass platform of himself slowly cracks.
-Hibiki wataru semishigure-
Fukato vanishes as the Kingdom Key falls down into a void of darkness. As it touches the bottom, it creates a ripple of light which a gloved hand grabs onto the Keyblade.