A Kingdom Hearts: Chest of Memories Filler Chapter
"Game On!"
"Jump over the platform! Jump! Jump!"
"I'm trying Sora!"
"Go faster! It's gaining on you!"
"I know! I know!"
Legs of reddish carroty coat scampered across grass infested platforms which dropped into darkness at the slightest physical contact.
A checkpoint beyond a fortress of concrete lay beyond the path and leaping across yet another falling platform, the figure landed on the grass on the other side before breaking off into another mile sprint towards the sanctuary of the safe zone.
"…..Almost there!"
Tiny fingers pressed desperately at multicolored buttons while the thumb delicately rotated the black pointing device forward.
The figure on screen continued running towards the checkpoint, its legs moving in time with the directional device.
It was almost to the fortress……its refuge……its sanctuary……when suddenly……..
"RIKU!!"
"Aargh!"
From out of the blue, a rolling boulder of colossal proportions appeared behind the scurrying figure.
Before either of the two observing boys could have uttered another word to each other, there was an ear-splitting crash…..a sound like tomatoes being smashed against a wall…and an inaudible cry of pain as the figure on screen fell prey to the crushing weight of the gigantic rock.
"It got you!"
"NOOOOOO!!"
The screen went dark for a few minutes before an animated character came into view, spinning itself around dizzily before falling flat on its back.
The words 'GAME OVER' accompanied the fallen creature.
"Darn it! Not again!" Hands threw up in forfeit and a black Playstation 2 controller collided with the floor as 4-year-old Riku tousled his lavender-grey hair in frustration.
It was another regular Saturday afternoon when Riku decided to pay a visit to the Golden Diskette Arcade.
The Golden Diskette was the most popular videogame arcade known on Destiny Island. Villagers from all across the isle came accompanied by comrades and family to test their luck against the various challenging videogames of the arcade, their only aspiration being to defeat their virtual foes and to bask in the glory of being the first one to concur that particular game in record breaking time.
The interior of the Golden Diskette was like any common arcade.
Tiled floors were accommodated by a gigantic rug branding the symbol for the online role-playing game 'World of Warcraft' whereas the barricades were decorated with posters and flyers of upcoming games to be added to the store's archive as well as upcoming game tournaments.
There was a small indoor cafeteria selling various snacks for the gamers to munch on incase they turn famished from either destroying various blood-sucking enemies or just lurking in the darkness; all in waiting of killing off their next target.
There was also a small gumball machine which popped out rainbow coloured gumballs wrapped in plastic paper with a different sticker on the inside when the machine is fed twenty-five cents.
In addition to the cafeteria, there were shelves…..lots and lots of shelves; and piled upon those shelves were videogames of different genres (either Sci-Fi, Action-Adventure, RPG, MMORPG, Shooter, Single-player or Multiplayer), all for different consoles (whether it be Dreamcast, Nintendo, Nintendo64, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy SP, Nintendo-DS, Nintendo-Wii, Sony Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, X-Box or X-Box 360) and different ages (whether it is rated EC for Early Childhood, E for Everyone, E10+ for Everyone 10 and older, T for Teens, M for Mature or AO for Adults Only).
All either to be purchased for permanent keep or rental to be borrowed for a specific amount of time.
However the cafeteria and the shelves stacked with videogames weren't the main attraction of the entire store.
The Coute de Graz of the Golden Diskette was the Arcade Area located through the door on the right of the room. Inside of the Arcade Area were platforms of popular Arcade franchises such as Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and more!
There were also console podiums hosting games for eight of the game consoles: Dreamcast, Nintendo, Nintendo64, Sony Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, X-Box and X-Box 360.
Seated by the podium hosting the Sony Playstation Game: Crash Bandicoot was Riku. He had been playing the game for several hours and had managed to make it all the way to the fifteenth level but now, the lavender-head 4-year-old stood with his head dropped in lose at yet another failed attempt at defeating the level.
Beside Riku sat 3-year-old Sora.
He had been playing videogames with Riku all day and had even helped Riku through a few of the levels in Crash Bandicoot. Now the spiky-haired brunette joined Riku in sulking at failing to pass the level.
"Aw man! That's like the tenth time now!" Sora groaned.
"Actually it's the twentieth time counting the times you tried," Riku corrected.
"Oh yeah," Sora said, counting on his fingers, "Aw pickles!"
"Hi Sora! Hi Riku! Whatcha two doing?" said Kairi. She had just entered the Golden Diskette arcade and following a visit from the Gumball Machine from which she bought three dollars worth of bubble gum; Kairi stood staring at her two friends, blowing a bluish-greenish-reddish-yellow gum bubble as she spoke.
"We're playing Crash Bandicoot, Kairi," Riku replied rather monotonously, "It's a videogame about a bandicoot named Crash who was once an experiment of the evil Dr. Cortex but now he escaped from his lab and is on an island where he has to fight his way through various obstacles and bosses inorder to make it to the doc's lab and save another bandicoot named Tawna,"
"Is it good?" Kairi inquired.
"Good? OF COURSE it's good. It's one of the best Playstation games in the entire arcade," Sora stated, "Riku and I have already made it past the other hard levels. Now we're on level fifteen,"
"Yeah but that's the least of our problems," Riku said.
"Why is that?" Kairi asked looking at Riku.
"Well….level fifteen is the Boulder Dash level," Riku said, "it's where Crash has to make it through the entire level while avoiding several dangerous obstacles and running from a giant rolling boulder,"
"I don't understand. There was a Boulder Dash level before and we made it through easily," Sora said, "now with this one we can't even make it to the second checkpoint without getting our butts smushed by a giant boulder,"
"We've both already tried but neither of us has been able to get past this level," Riku whined, "at this rate we'll never make it to level sixteen,"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Kairi said considerably. She then smiled as a considerate idea popped into her head. "Hey! You know what? Why don't I give the level a try," said Kairi suggestively.
"You? Play Crash Bandicoot?!" Riku said, ogling Kairi.
"Yeah," Kairi replied confidently.
Riku glimpsed at Sora to his side. For a minute the two looked at one another before shifting their attention back to Kairi and bursting out into fits of laughter.
Kairi pouted at her two friends. "Heyyyy….what's so funny?" The red-head said.
"Sorry Kairi no can do," Riku said.
"What? Why not?" Kairi asked, hands on her hips.
"No offense Kairi but playing videogames is more of a guy thing," Riku stated.
"WHAT! Girls can play videogames just as good as boys can," Kairi said, looking taken aback. "Maybe even better!" she added boastfully.
"Better if it was a videogame about having tea parties or dressing up Barbie Princess dolls," Riku said sarcastically, "but when it comes to games like Crash Bandicoot or any other videogame, boys are better suited,"
"Sorry Kairi," Sora placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder and looked at her squarely. "…But games especially videogames are for boys and boys alone," Sora said.
"I can't believe this!" Kairi said. She harshly brushed Sora's hand from her shoulder and stood frowning at both him and Riku. "That's so discriminating against girls!" Kairi protested.
"Sorry Kairi but it's the truth. Girls can't play videogames," Riku said.
"Is that so? Well I'll show you too who can't play videogames!" Kairi griped, "Humph!"
With that said, the red-haired 3-year-old stomped away without another word to her two boy friends.
"Well hello there Kairi! How are you today?" asked Steven.
He was a nineteen-year old who worked at the Golden Arcade alongwith his twin brother: Michael. He had curly red hair with blondish-brown highlights, green eyes and freckles.
He had several piercings on his body which included an eyebrow piercing and a nose piercing. He also had a tattoo of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider on his left shoulder. Steven was always wearing a T-shirt depicting different logos from a variety of videogames whenever Riku and Sora came to the store.
That afternoon he was a wearing a black, red and blue tie-dyed T-shirt branding the logo for a Sony Playstation game named Chrono Cross.
Steven was handling the tokens for the games in the arcade area when Kairi passed by the counter. Despite Steven's greeting, Kairi merely gave another irritated 'Humph' as she stomped towards the cafeteria.
Steven raised a brow at Kairi as she passed by. "What's wrong with her?" Steven questioned of Riku and Sora who had come to the counter.
"Nah she'll be alright. After a few chocolate chip biscuits from the cafeteria, she'll come around," Riku said.
"I see," said Steven with a light smile.
Standing on tippy-toes so that he could see over the counter, Sora outstretched a hand and dropped some change ontop of the countertop. "More tokens for Crash Bandicoot please," Sora said grinning up at Steven.
Steven raised a brow. "Again? Didn't you two buy some an hour ago?" he asked.
"We did. But we want more," Riku said, "that way we could have more time to get through level fifteen,"
"You're STILL on level fifteen?" Steven said.
"Yeah I just don't get it. Why can't we pass it? It seems like an easy level," Riku said, "I just want to pass it already,"
"You know what. How 'bout you both take a break from playing Crash Bandicoot for a while," Steven suggested, "spend your money on tokens for another game that doesn't involve a crazed bandicoot running around and getting squished by boulders,"
"Aww…but Steven, Crash Bandicoot is like the bestest game here," Sora said.
"Yeah, next to Crash Bandicoot, what else is there to play?" Riku asked.
"Well there is Destiny Saga," Steven replied.
"What's Destiny Saga?" Riku asked.
"It's a role-playing strategy game that my brother and I developed together. I composed the song and designed the computer and motion graphics for the game and my brother designed all the artwork including the character designs and virtual environment designs," Steven explained, "would you guys like to try the game?"
"I dunno Steven. I've never played an RPG before," said Sora.
"Oh it's not that hard to play. The rules are pretty simple," said Steven, "at the beginning of the game, there are three different paths that you must chose from inorder to start the game. Depending on the path you chose, whether it's the path of a Paladin Knight, Magical Sorcerer or Alchemist, the game will have a different outcome in terms of the enemies you must face along your journey and also the bosses that you will encounter,"
"Sounds like fun Steven but what's the goal of the game?" Riku inquired.
"The goal of Destiny Saga is to find and possess the Golden Goblet of Providence. The first one to possess the Golden Goblet of Providence will be crowned the King of Destiny in the game," said Steven. He looked at Riku and Sora. "Whaddaya say, interesting in playing now?" He asked.
"Sorry Steven but I'd still rather play Crash Bandicoot," Riku said.
"Tell you what, if you guys try my game depending on who beats the game first, I'll give you a prize," said Steven.
"Hmm….what kind of prize?" Sora inquired.
"Oh I dunno," Steven replied, "how about a month's supply of Her Heart's chocolate and a lifetime pass to the Golden Diskette which will get you play any game you want in the entire arcade for free,"
"For free?" Riku and Sora replied, their eyes widening at the offer.
"For free," said Steven with a sneer.
"Okay in that case, sign me up! I definitely wanna play Destiny Saga," Riku said grinning toothily.
"Spectacular my little lavender-haired dude," Steven jeered, "what about you porcupine, interested?"
"You had me at the monthly supply of Her Hearts chocolates so that's a definite YES. I'm in too!" Sora cheered.
"Great," Steven reached beside the counter where there was a small Chester draw.
Opening the top draw, Steven dug through collections of comic books before fishing out two golden passes on red strings. Turning back to Sora and Riku, Steven handed both a pass each.
"Here are passes to the computer lab. The Destiny Saga game is installed on all the computers over there," said Steven, "chose whichever computers you wanna use and start playing,"
"Okay," Riku said.
"Ooh! This pass is so shiny!" said Sora, blue eyes gleaming as he rubbed his pass against his cheek.
"What's going on here?" Kairi asked.
She had returned from the arcade cafeteria, brandishing a fresh packet of potato chips in her left hand and a giant-sized blue and white swirled cup of Toothy Fruity Smoothie drink which she drank through a cotton candy pink straw.
"Hi Kairi. Looks like you're feeling a lot better," Steven said, smiling down at his fellow red-head.
"What do you mean? I've always felt better," Kairi said calmly, taking another sip of her drink. "Oh and these new Toothy Fruity Smoothies are the best!" Kairi added, a contented blush appearing on her cheeks as she continued to slurp up the purplish-pink drink into her mouth.
"Hi Kairi!" Sora greeted, waving at Kairi cheerily.
However Kairi took one look at Sora and turned her head away from him with another 'Humph!' "Don't talk to me," was all she said to Sora.
"Aww c'mon Kairi, don't be like that," Sora said. "Are you still bitter about what we said?" Riku asked.
"Bitter? Bitter! Of course I'm still BITTER," Kairi growled, "what you boys said to me was mean and you're supposed to be my best friends,"
"We are your friends Kairi," Sora said.
"Say Kairi, how'd you like to play Destiny Saga too?" Steven asked.
"Destiny Saga, what's that?" Kairi asked, now opening her pack of potato chips and munching on one of the chips.
"Destiny Saga is a role-playing videogame that was made by me and my bro," Steven said, "Riku and Sora already agreed to test out the game, would you like to play it too?"
"A role-playing game?" Kairi took another bite out of her potato chips and smiled. "Sure! I'd love to--"
"Sorry Steven but I don't think Kairi should play Destiny Saga," Riku interrupted cheekily.
"And why not?" Kairi growled at Riku.
"Yeah Riku, why can't she?" Steven asked.
"Duh! Because Destiny Saga is a videogame and videogames are for boys only," Riku said, "and since Kairi is a girl, she can't play it,"
"What? Ah come on Riku. Look videogames can be played anytime by anyone," Steven said, "so what if Kairi is a girl, I bet she's just as good a gamer as any of us,"
"…Or better!" Kairi added.
"Che! Oh please! The day when a girl beats a boy at a videogame will the be the day I dance naked around the Gumball machine," Riku scoffed, "and we all know that is never gonna happen because videogames aren't for girls!"
Kairi frowned at Riku.
"C'mon Sora!" Riku turned to Sora. "Let's go play Destiny Saga on the computers and win that prize!" Riku said. Grabbing hold of Sora's shirt sleeve, the lavender-head turned and walked off dragging Sora alongwith him.
"Once again. I'm really sorry Kairi," said Sora looking at Kairi apologetically as he was pulled off by Riku.
Kairi only pouted; her lip quivering as she frowned behind Riku and Sora's backs.
"Why those two!!" Kairi growled.
"Here Kairi, this is for you," Steven said. Holding out his hand, he handed a golden pass to Kairi.
Kairi carefully took the pass from Steven (being careful not to drop her snacks) and looked up at the 19-year-old in puzzlement. "But…But Steven, this is a pass to the computer lab," Kairi said.
"Yup I know. It's for you to play Destiny Saga. I'm not gonna let Riku and Sora be the only ones to try the game," Steven said, winking at Kairi.
Kairi grinned. "Thank you very much Steven," she said gratefully.
Steven nodded at Kairi and muttered a 'No problem' before he turned his attention to the Chester draw beside the counter.
He reached into the top compartment again and this time he pulled out a Spiderman comic which he started reading on the countertop.
Kairi looked at the golden pass in her hand. "Wow! It's so shiny," the red-head grinned.
But then Kairi frowned as she remembered what Riku said. Her fingers tightened around the pass.
"Grr! Sora and Riku! How dare they say that girls can't play videogames," Kairi said, "Ooh! What I wouldn't give to show those two a thing or two about playing videogames!"
A light bulb suddenly appeared above Kairi's head and the red-head grinned cunningly as she looked at her pass to the computer lab again.
"….Hmm….maybe I can show them," Kairi said.
"Wow! Steven was right. Destiny Saga is better than Crash Bandicoot," Riku commented. He was speaking through a tiny microphone while he sat at a Dell computer, his fingers pressing against the buttons of the game controller attached to the computer's CPU.
"…And so much easier too," Sora said, also speaking into a microphone as he moved the diagonal buttons on his controller.
It had been an hour and a half since Riku and Sora had entered the computer lab of the Golden Diskette. Unlike the games section of the arcade, the computer lab was less spacious and merely consisted of an air-conditioned room piled with computers placed side by side in rows.
After giving their passes to the Lab Advisor, a young lady about Steven's age with braided brown hair and pale grey eyes behind square-rimmed spectacles wearing a green vest over a plaid shirt with a pleated green and white checkered skirt and shiny silver braces on her teeth, Sora and Riku entered the lab and took their places at two computers next to the window.
Their computers were positioned facing each other on opposite side with two game controllers in addition to two headphones and microphones for communication during the game. As soon as the two had started their computers, the game Destiny Saga automatically appeared on screen and loaded right before their eyes.
Once the game had finished loading, there were settings for Riku and Sora to choose from: Single-Player or Multiplayer.
Riku and Sora both chose the Multiplayer setting, that way they could play the game simultaneously and communicate with each other during the game.
Next was the selection of the paths for the game. Once Sora and Riku had chosen the paths for their playable characters, the game began!
Sora pressed forward on his controller while holding down the triangle button as he made his character leap into the air and swing his weapon at the huge monster he was battling on screen. The monster was a giant-sized minotaur and the half man, hall bull roared and cringed in pain as it was slashed upside the head three times by Sora's character, losing at least ten HP (Health Points) for each hit.
Before the actual game had commenced and there were three different paths to choose from, Sora had chosen the path of the Paladin Knight. It was the duty of the Paladin Knight to journey across the mystical lands of Destinaire, eradicating beast after beast, monster after monster all for the sake of finding the Golden Goblet of Providence inorder to save the Kingdom of Destinaire and its bed-ridden ruler: Queen Arasha.
Following the process of perfectly designing his playable character, giving him the 'Sora' touch with sky blue eyes and spiky brown hair in addition to crimson, gold and black (since those were Sora's favourite colors) body armor forged from pure Dragon flames and a sword of precious silver, Sora started the game under the username 'KeyofDestiny'.
He had been playing the game for the past hour, after defeating various monsters including werewolves, vampires, banshees and dwarves as well as the selected group of powerful larger-than-life bosses, and had managed to power-up his character to Level 20 with a total of two hundred and fifty-six HP and make it to stage sixteen.
The game only had seventeen stages and Sora was only one step away from arriving at the final level of the game. All he had to do was defeat the final boss on the path of the Paladin Knight, which was the mighty Minotaur.
Sora cringed slightly in his seat. His character on screen had just sustained damage from his Minotaur opponent, more commonly known as 'King Minot' in the game, losing at least forty-three HP. But no matter, the battle was already won since Sora's character had managed to knock down most of King Minot's HP and all he had to do was land the final move.
Grinning to himself, Sora pressed the X button and went into the arsenal of items, magic abilities and signature moves that his character had obtained during his journey. Once he had located his character's keen signature move, which was 'Final Conquer' Sora pressed the X button and activated the attack.
Now the spiky-haired brunette leaned back in his seat as he watched his character completely obliterated King Minot with one powerful slash of his mighty sword, taking out the last of the Minotaur's health points and winning Sora the battle and the chance to finally advance to stage seventeen.
As the screen showed all the items his character had obtained from the last battle, Sora rested the controller down and cracked his knuckles.
"….Yosh! I've finally beaten stage sixteen," Sora said grinning proudly. He then spoke into the microphone on his headphones. "Hey Riku, guess what? I finished stage sixteen! Now I'm on to the last level, what about you?" Sora inquired his friend on the other line of the headphones.
"…..Almost Sora," Riku replied.
Unlike Sora, Riku had chosen the path of the Sorcerer at the starting of the game. Dissimilar to the Paladin Knight, the Sorcerer desired the Goblet of Providence inorder to increase the strength of his magical abilities.
Riku had designed his sorcerer to look just like him, or at least almost.
Riku's sorcerer had long greyish-lavender hair, like Riku's, which was combed in a long braid that trailed down the front of his glittering robe with pouches of magic dust and summoning shards tied around his waist and a long magic staff in his hand.
Riku's username was 'The-Master-of-Might-and-Magic'.
For Riku's character, his journey consisted of voyaging across the lands of fire, water, earth and ice while battling beasts and bosses of elemental proportions as well as other sorcerers who wished to possess the power of the Golden Goblet of Providence. Similar to Sora's Paladin, Riku's sorcerer had arrived at level sixteen and was currently in a heated brawl against the final boss: Freezor the King of the Land of Ice.
Taking the form of a beast made entirely of ice, Freezor attacked Riku's sorcerer on screen with one of its signature moves.
The move was called 'Icy Rain' where Freezor would summon stalagmites causing them to rain down on an enemy. It was a powerful move and it caused Riku at least one hundred of his HP of two-hundred and fifty points bringing it down to one hundred and fifty points.
Going into the archive of spells that his sorcerer had collected during his journey, Riku choose the Cure Spell he had collected from his previous battle against the boss of the Land of Earth and healed his sorcerer of at least fifty of his injury which was enough for Riku to need.
Freezor attacked Riku's sorcerer again however this time, its attack missed and Riku's sorcerer was left unharmed. Seizing this as his chance, Riku went into the sorcerer's archive of spells and elements again and this time he chose the perfect elemental spell to defeat his opponent.
It was a spell of the element of fire and it was called 'Dragon Spitfire'.
Selecting the elemental attack, Riku activated the move and only watched as his sorcerer obliterated the last of Freezor's health points with a powerful inferno which turned into a gigantic dragon and slammed into Freezor.
There was a loud roar from Freezor before the boss fell forward and disappeared henceforth announcing Riku's victory.
"Okay! Now I'm done!" Riku said into the microphone.
"Awesome! Now that that's settled. Time to move on to the main event! Stage seventeen!" Sora cheered.
"Yeah. I'm glad we've both made it this far Sora but sadly, only one of us is gonna win that prize," Riku pointed out, "and I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure that it's me,"
"We'll just see who'll be the victor Riku," Sora said, "May the best man win! See you at the finishing line Riku,"
"Hai!" Riku said.
Both Sora and Riku reverted their attentions back to the computer screen.
Previously the screen was blank but now it had been replaced with the words 'STAGE XVII' which hovered on the screen in gold lettering.
Riku and Sora pressed the X button on their game controllers and simultaneously both of their characters entered the Final Stage of the game.
"I know we're supposed to be rivals in this game Riku but since I'm a sportsman I think it'd be best for me to tell you good luck and watch your character's back in this level," said Sora.
Riku snorted from behind the computer Sora was occupying. "Ah come on Sora! It's the last level!" Riku stated, "Nothing for you to be nervous about," "Well nothing except me beating you," Riku added cunningly.
Sora rolled his eyes at Riku's comment but yet still he was not convinced by his friend's words. "I'm serious Riku. You and I both play videogames and all gamers know that the final level of any game is always the hardest of them all," said Sora.
"True," Riku said honestly, "but in all honesty Sora, I doubt that this last level here isn't going to be that tough. I mean just look at it," Riku pressed the analog button at the bottom middle of his controller, activating the analog controls. Tilting the analog stick of the controller forward, Riku made his wizard walk around on screen as he scanned his surroundings.
The Final Stage of Destiny Saga was not what was expected of it.
Instead of there being a path of perilous obstacles or a colony of dangerous mystical beasts blocking the path onwards that their characters had to face, instead both Riku's Sorcerer and Sora's Paladin Knight stood in a damp cavern, dimly lit by torches of ultraviolet leading down a straight path where the only beast there to battle were the troops of cockroaches scurrying across the damp barricade.
"What kind of final level is this? Where are the blood-thirsty monsters?" Sora inquired blatantly, rotating the analog controls on his game controller, making his Paladin Knight move around on screen.
Riku smirked. "What a relief! The last level looks like a piece of cake! Ha! This'll be a synch to get through," the lavender-head 4-year-old jeered.
"Don't be too confident Riku. Remember you still got me to beat; besides I don't think this level is going to be a piece of pie. I mean the last level is always the hardest to pass. I bet that somewhere in this level, it's gonna be really hard," Sora pointed out.
"Aw c'mon Sora," Riku griped, rolling his eyes, "This is the last level we're talking about here! We've already been through the last sixteen levels and defeated countless of disgusting monsters and bosses. Apart from that, what else is there for them to throw at us?"
Sora shrugged. "Beats me," he said as he motioned his Paladin Knight to move forward alongside the Sorcerer belonging to Riku.
The two pixel born characters continued their nonchalant walk down the cold bareness of the cavern until their feet brought them into the radiant light which belonged to the diminutive fortification leading out of the cavern.
As soon as the two characters had arrived at the fortification, which was apparently the checkpoint of the level, there was a brief pause in the gameplay as the screen portrayed the path ahead of the cavern.
In this preceding level, as an alternative to battling vicious beasts, there were several obstacles that the two characters must pass.
There were tracks of poisonous thorns trailing along the path onward in addition to crumbling platforms that stood hovering above canyons of burning fire which occasionally shot balls of fire up to stop any intruders from proceeding further.
A few Venus Flytraps (Man-Eating Plants) were lined up along the track, their giant jaws snapping menacingly and their bodies of green shifting constantly in preparation to devour their next prey and resist any sort of assault they might throw at them.
Apart from that, there were also geysers of molten lava which gushed from the ground and rained fire on the path which lead to two more fortifications at the end of the tail.
…………..And beyond the third stronghold, upon a podium of stone……..was the object of the game itself…..the Golden Goblet of Providence. The Golden Goblet Providence was forged from pure gold with crimson red rubies and diamonds of emerald and sapphire lined around the middle with another diamond of silver at its core. The rubies shimmered against the light around the pathway, making the Golden Goblet of Providence the shining glory of the final stage.
The scene on screen eventually ended and both Riku's Sorcerer and Sora's Paladin Knight stepped up to the plate.
"….Alright! There's the Goblet! Time to win this game and collect my prize," Riku said.
"Yeah! Say….Riku, is it just me or does this level sorta look familiar," Sora pondered.
"You know, it kinda is. I wonder where I've seen a level like this before," Riku said. He moved his Sorcerer forward (Sora doing the same with his Paladin Knight) however as Riku's character moved forward, the controller in Riku's hand suddenly shook violently.
"….Huh?" Riku peered down at the controller in his hands as it vibrated a second time.
At the same time, Sora's controller was vibrating too. Immediately the eyes of the two boys flew to the screen of their computers.
An uncanny yet earsplitting noise had just sounded from their computers and the joysticks held tightly in either Riku's or Sora's hands continued to vibrate.
There was another cutscene where a huge boulder came tumbling out of a crevice in the fortress where their characters: the Paladin Knight and the Sorcerer had just stepped out of and started rolling after their characters.
"What! A boulder!" Riku shouted, his jaw hanging in shock at what he was witnessing on the monitor.
"Now I know why this level seemed familiar. This is exactly like the Boulder Dash level from Crash Bandicoot," Sora pointed out, "but Riku, neither of us ever passed that level! What are we going to do?"
"I'll tell you what I'm not gonna do! Sit here and watch my game character gets squashed," Riku said, neglecting the analog controls and pushing desperately at the directional controls.
Riku's Sorcerer disappeared in a flash on the screen, and appeared running down the path. The Sorcerer was eventually joined by the Paladin Knight belonging to Sora who ran alongside Riku's Sorcerer at a breakneck pace.
From behind, the boulder roared as it increased its speed. Nothing was going to prevent it from completely obliterating its scurrying prey in a single crushing blow. Meanwhile, off screen, Riku and Sora were simultaneously jabbing at their directional buttons, analog sticks and the occasional X button in an attempt to help their characters to dodge the boulder in addition to the numerous booby traps placed before them.
Booby traps such as the hovering platforms which crumbled at their feet with a single fleeting touch….the Venus Flytraps which snapped at them as they trampled by, swiftly dodging their carnivorous fangs, not to mention the poisonous thorns which were left easily along the trail.
To the misfortune of Sora, his Paladin Knight happened to be prickled by a few of the thorns and the spiky-haired brunette mentally kicked himself. When their characters managed to arrive at the second fortress and checkpoint of the level, both Sora and Riku exhaled sighs of relief, taking a chance to rest their fingers before they had to return to the run.
"Phew! We made it!" Riku sighed, massaging his fingers, "now we only have a little more to go until we make it to the goblet,"
"Easy for you to say Riku! My character got poisoned," Sora said as he examined his character's status on screen.
According to his character's condition, Sora's Paladin Knight had lost approximately eighty-five HP points due to the poison and it continued to decrease rapidly.
"Aw…man!" Sora whined.
"Can't you just heal him," Riku advised.
"Healing elements don't work on poisons, only antidotes do and I don't got no antidotes," Sora said. He cringed as his Paladin Knight had lost another medley of HP points off his life gauge.
Now Sora's Knight only had 125 HP points in his gauge and that eventually decrease to 40 HP points, rendering Sora's character weak and helpless.
"Sora! Your knight's life points are being drained out!" Riku said, noticing Sora's Knight slouch over on screen, panting, the way all characters of the game got when they were generally weakened.
Sora heaved a sigh. "Yeah I know," he said, "looks like I won't be able to win the game after all,"
"Aww Sora, you can still win the game," Riku said comfortingly, "all you have to do is--"
"Nope Riku! My Knight won't be able to make it that far," Sora said, "like in any good videogame that has a cool knight, every warrior has his own path and my knight's journey had come to an end," "Or so they say in all the really cool RP games commercials on TV," Sora added grinning.
"Sora…."
"It's okay Riku; at least I was able to make it to the last level," Sora said, "that's good enough," Sora rested his controller down. "It was nice playing with ya Riku but looks like my time in Destiny Saga is….over!" Sora stated.
"Sora--!!" Riku started, but it was already too late.
The Paladin Knight dropped on screen, lifeless.
Sora's monitor went blank with the words 'YOU LOSE' appearing on screen.
In contrast, the words 'KEYOFDESTINY has been eliminated!' appeared on Riku's monitor screen.
"Well that's that. So much for winning the ultimate prize," Sora griped, pouting his lower lip as he removed the headphones and microphone from his ears.
"I'm sorry you couldn't win Sora," Riku said, "you know what? How about I win the game and you and I can share the prize!"
"Really? You'd do that?" Sora said, peering at Riku from behind his monitor in shock.
"Yeah! I'm sure Steven wouldn't mind if we both decide to split the prize after all we both made it to the last level, right?" Riku said.
"That's right," Sora said, "well Riku I only have one thing to say to you,"
"What's that?" Riku asked.
"You better win this game," Sora said, grinning as he moved his chair to sit beside Riku. Riku grinned at his brunette friend.
"You got it!" Riku said.
Focusing his attention on the monitor screen, Riku pressed the directional button and maneuvered his sorcerer through the checkpoint area. The Sorcerer moved forward through the fortress until he arrived at its exit. However from the moment, the Sorcerer stepped just a few yards out of the fortress, the boulder returned and came rolling down the path towards the Sorcerer and instantaneously, Riku switched from the directional buttons to using the analog stick, pushing it forward to make his character run faster.
"Go Riku! Go!" Sora cheered, pumping his fists in the air.
Riku concentrated attentively on the game, his fingers depressed on the analog stick and the X Button to make his character jump when necessary.
The Sorcerer, like previously, skillfully evaded the obstacles set up at the remainder of the path ahead. He leapt across tumbling platforms, avoided trampling the poisonous thorns scattered across the dirt, dodged sharp fangs from the carnivorous plants also and cast Freezing spells at the geysers of molten lava before they had a chance to injure him.
"Faster Riku! Faster! Before the boulder catches you!" Sora informed.
Surely enough, the spiky-haired 3-year-old had a point.
The boulder had picked up speed after running over the Venus Flytraps instead of the Sorcerer and now stood a good few inches away from its target.
Riku gritted his teeth anxiously. 'There's no way I'm gonna lose this game' the lavender-head thought.
"Hurry Riku! The boulder's gaining on you!" Sora shouted.
"I'm trying Sora!" Riku yelled back.
Pressing the X button, Riku made his character jump over another pair of platforms.
They were last pair of platform for beyond their borders was the last checkpoint…….and beyond that checkpoint was the Golden Goblet of Providence.
"There's the Goblet!!" Sora exclaimed, "Hurry Riku!! HURRY!! This is your last chance at beating the game!!"
"I know that Sora!!" Riku grunted.
His Sorcerer jumped the last platform and landed on the other side of the grounds……..He was almost to the final checkpoint.
However, alongwith the Sorcerer came the giant boulder.
The boulder had rolled across the crevice which acted as a sort of catapult and the boulder was launched into the air, its shadow hovering about Riku's character as it slowly tumbled back to earth, right above Riku's Sorcerer!!
"RIKU!!"
At the last minute, Riku pressed the X button causing his character to dive forward into the final checkpoint just as the boulder landed on the spot where the Sorcerer had just been standing; its surface colliding with the entrance the last checkpoint.
Now the colossal object of destruction was ensnared in the door to the fortress where it stood immobilized. As for Riku's character, the Sorcerer stood across from the boulder, completely unharmed.
From his bench upon his revolver seat, Sora cheered aloud. "You did it Riku! You've won the game!!" Sora cheered, almost falling off his seat in his excitement, "Now we've won the ultimate prize!!"
"Not yet Sora," said Riku with a smirk to his friend. Riku directed his Sorcerer forward, moving him toward the Golden Goblet of Providence. The gold encrusted object shun dazzlingly from upon its throne inside of the final checkpoint.
"Finally, the ultimate prize shall be ours!" Riku jeered.
"Yessss!!" Sora cheered in concord.
Riku's Sorcerer held out his hand to collect the Golden Goblet of Providence. However, before the Sorcerer could have touched the goblet, a bolt of lightning suddenly shot from out of the blue and struck Riku's character.
The attack was apparently a lot stronger than what Riku and Sora had anticipated it to be, for the life gauge of Riku's Sorcerer hit zero HP and the magical character dropped before their very eyes.
'YOU LOSE' were the words now written across Riku's screen. Riku's jaw dropped!
"What!! I lost!!" Riku bellowed, looking dumbfounded, "How can this be!! I didn't even touch the Goblet!!"
"Where did that lightning attack suddenly come from?" Sora said, pondering.
Riku growled, throwing down his game controller before falling back in his seat with his arms crossed. "…Sora! Did you do something to my character!!" Riku said, his neck snapping towards Sora as he pointed a finger accusingly at his friend.
Sora immediately raised his hands in defense. "Hey! Don't look at me! My character got killed off before, remember?" Sora protested.
"Oh yeah, you're right," Riku said, dropping his finger, "…..well….if it wasn't you then…..who did it?"
Just as Riku spoke, the words 'YOU LOSE' disappeared off screen and were replaced with another message.
THE-MASTER-OF-MIGHT-AND-MAGIC has been eliminated!
WINNER: PrincessofHeart7
Riku's eyes widened at the words on screen. "PrincessofHeart7!!" Riku shouted.
"Who on earth is PrincessofHeart7?" Sora inquired, scratching his temples confusedly.
"Hey guys," Steven had just entered the computer lab.
He was carrying three boxes in his hand and spotting Sora and Riku in the lab, the 19-year-old trotted over to the two.
"Hi Steven," Sora and Riku replied disappointedly.
"What's with the long faces mate? How did the game go? Did you win?" Steven questioned, resting the boxes on another table.
"No! We lost!" Riku griped angrily.
"Ouch! Tough luck for both of you I guess," Steven said.
"Anyways what are you doing here Steven?" Sora asked.
"Oh me! I'm here to congratulate the winner of Destiny Saga and give them the prize," Steven answered, jabbing a finger at the three boxes on the table across from him.
"But…Sora and I lost the game," Riku pointed out.
"Oh I wasn't talking about you two," Steven said.
Riku and Sora glanced at each other and then at Steven with confusion written clearly across their faces.
If they weren't the winners then who was?
"Hiya Steven!" Kairi greeted perkily, appearing behind Steven. Both Sora and Riku glanced at Kairi, looking surprised at her sudden appearance.
"Kairi!!"
"You were here the whole time!"
"Yup!" Kairi replied bluntly.
"Hey Kairi, congratulations on winning the game!" Steven proclaimed, grinning down at Kairi, "you are now the King--or should I say Queen of Destiny in Destiny Saga!!"
Kairi returned the grin. "Thank you Steven," she giggled.
"WHATT!!" Riku's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he goggled at Kairi. Even Sora was surprised.
"Kairi, does this mean that you--you're PrincessofHeart7?" Sora asked. Kairi nodded; the grin on her face widening.
Riku paled. "…B--But….how?! I thought Sora and I were the only ones given passes to play Destiny Saga," Riku said.
"You were but I also gave one to Kairi," Steven said, "and it looks like she put it to good use considering that she put you guys to shame. Dudes, you lost to a girl!"
"See I told you guys that girls can play videogames!" Kairi said, sticking her tongue out at Riku and Sora.
"But…….how? How was it possible for you to beat me!? My wizard was the only one there at the last checkpoint!" Riku said.
"Easy! I was an Alchemist!" Kairi replied, "And for the record Riku, your wizard wasn't the only one there at the checkpoint. My Alchemist was there too. You see, unlike the wizards and the knights, alchemist can turn invisible and that's how you didn't know that my character was there and that's also how……"
"You were able to attack Riku!" Sora interrupted.
"…Exactly!!" Kairi said.
"So you were the one who attacked my character with the lightning!!" Riku said.
"Yup! It was my last Lightning Element though. I'd used up the rest in the last sixteen levels but all in all I was able to make it to the final stage and beat the game," Kairi said, grinning proudly.
"Wow!" Riku said, still appearing flabbergasted.
"Sora! Riku, don't you guys have anything to say to Kairi?" Steven said.
"I do!" Sora said, raising his hand. He turned to Kairi. "Kairi, I was wrong to say that you or any other girl can't play videogames and as it turns out, girls are just as good at playing videogames or in our case, even better!"
"Aww….Thank you Sora!" Kairi said, hugging her brunette friend. Her gaze fell on Riku. "Riku?"
"Well I don't know what else to say to you Kairi. I'm still recovering from the shock that you were able to beat me! I still can't believe that you, a girl, was able to beat me, a guy, in a videogame especially a game such as Destiny Saga!! I guess….you are the King of Destiny Saga,"
"Queen," Kairi corrected, "and apology accepted Riku,"
"Tell you what you guys, how about the three of us split the prize," Kairi suggested, "We can all share the lifetime membership at the arcade and we can also share the month supply of chocolates. I'll give some to you guys and I can keep the rest. We can also save some for Tidus, Wakka, Selphie and all of our other friends too,"
"That sounds good to me," Sora said.
"What do you think Steven? Is it okay if I share my prize with my friends?" Kairi asked, looking up at Steven.
"No that's fine Kairi. After all, you're the Queen and it's your prize to do whatever you want with it," Steven said, smiling at Kairi as he handed her the three boxes which were all full to the brim with freshly-baked Her Hearts chocolate wrapped in brightly coloured pink and red wrapping paper in addition to the lifetime membership card to the Golden Diskette enclosed in a white envelope.
Kairi took the boxes and the membership card from Steven with a smile and thanked him gratefully.
"You know what. I'm proud of you three for being nice enough to try my game and even prouder that you decided to share the prize. As a token of appreciation, I'll buy you guys some smoothies, on the house," Steven said.
"Smoothies!! Awesome!!" cheered Sora and Kairi slapping each other high-fives.
"Mmm I just love a good smoothie!" Kairi cooed, slurping at the mixture of pink and green in her smoothie cup.
Kairi was seated on a red and white candy-cane stool inside of the arcade cafeteria. She was joined by Sora and together the two sat side by side, their mouths drinking at the cups of smoothies that Steven had bought for them out of gratitude.
Kairi was enjoying a delicious Strawberry and Kiwi Smoothie while Sora was thirstily drinking at his smoothie of Apples and Oranges, a combination of red apples and oranges into one tasty beverage. Steven was no where near the cafeteria, having returned to his post at the front counter.
"It was really nice for Steven to buy us these smoothies," Sora said, "I'm gonna give him some of my share of the chocolates as a thanks for the smoothie,"
"Me too," Kairi said, taking another sip from her cup. "Hey Sora, where's Riku? Doesn't he want his smoothie?" Kairi added inquiringly peering at the third stool beside hers. There was another Strawberry and Kiwi smoothie ontop the counter for Riku yet the lavender-head was no where to be seen.
"Oh! He told me that he'll be a little late for his smoothie," Sora replied.
"Late? How come?" Kairi asked.
"I dunno. He just said that there was something that he needed to do first," Sora answered with a small shrug, taking another swig of his smoothie.
"….Hmmm? I wonder what he has to do that's so important," Kairi said.
"…..Me and my big mouth! This was one thing that I never thought I'd have to do today at the arcade but….I'm an honest kid and I never go back on my word," Riku grumbled, "Well here I go!"
Riku was standing infront of the gumball machine a few tables away from the smoothie stand where his friends were seated.
Heaving an exasperated sigh, Riku stripped himself of all of his clothing, including his diaper, tossing them to the side before he, very embarrassingly, began to dance around the gumball machine.
A little girl with ginger pigtails, who was casually passing by licking her giant rainbow lollipop, just happened to witness Riku parading around the gumball machine wearing nothing but his birthday suit and just stood there staring at him with her mouth agape.
Groaning, Riku stopped his dancing and faced the girl. "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a baby dance naked around the gumball machine before?" Riku griped.
The little girl said nothing. All she did was turn around and slowly walk away, making sure to throw her rainbow lollipop in the trash bin as if it was the reason she was seeing a baby boy dancing naked around the gumball machine. Riku merely rolled his eyes at the girl as he continued to dance his little jig around the gumball machine without a care in the world.
Mistress: -raises hands in triumph- Yes! I'm finally finished with this! Amen!
Sorry that this took so long guys X3 As it turned out there was a small mishap in the examination and…well, to make a long story short, all students had to do over the Math and English papers of the exam. Don't worry; it's all good cause the exam went well! Now I'm officially glad to say that my exams are finally over!!
Yes!! Exams are over –throws confetti- Now I can focus on other stuff like………finishing KH: CoM Chapter 17!!
I know you guys are dying to get back to the chaos of the Valentine's Day fair. Don't worry, just to let you know, this will be the last filler chapter for a while now so I hope you enjoyed it.
The next time I update will be with Chapter 17. Wish me luck in finishing it because it's gonna be a lot of work typing all of that chaos XD
Anyways, until the next update!
-Mistress of Serenity
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