Heart of Akasha

A/N: Thank you guys for your reviews, merendinoemiliano and AGuyInTheKnow.

AGuyInTheKnow:

1. Well, I thought I was pretty clear that I wouldn't keep everything from canon Kingdom Hearts, but the creation of Emblem-Heartless wasn't one of the things I wanted to change. Yet all my conclusions from the wiki pointed me to that there are two ways to turn someone into an Emblem-Heartless. A fatal attack from a Heartless and falling to Darkness. The cut scene you mentioned being the first of the two. But since everyone always talked about how they are created when a heart falls to darkness, I assumed, there had to be a second method.

And, after some new research, I found an example for the second method: Sköll. That guy turned into an Emblem-Heartless without another Heartless being present or getting forced to transform. Though you could argue that the visuals I've chosen for the transformation into a Heartless were wrong since I did chose them from the cut scene in KH1 where Heartless are present.

2. Okay. I'll try to make him more giddy and happy on the thought of getting more magic, since it's clear that he likes magic more than the physical stuff. Though I still haven't seen anything that tells me my decision for Ji-Han to pick the sword had been out-of-character. Even if he does like magic more, he's such a goofball, he still would have chosen the sword, just to conform to stereotypes. Especially since he was thinking, he was dreaming.

Chapter 15: GIRL

Since Traverse Town was just two hours away from the Kingdom of Belzerg, they naturally made it to there before they woke up. So, after they woke up, any plans of grinding his stats high enough to learn the new skills had been put on hold until they sold the Vendor Trash at the Leon Shop and decked themselves in with more supplies – if mostly water since Ji-Han hadn't gotten the opportunity to cook with anything except for the Oumukade Flesh. But if they bought enough, they could maybe even deal with both worlds, before returning to Traverse Town. And yes, when Ji-Han had went to the board computer, he had gotten quests for two worlds to close the keyhole of, [123-21-2311-bul-qgsgp] and [115-42-2345-csb-otqkr].

Not that anyone could tell what these worlds were about just with the ID. And both gave 35 000 EXP upon completion, so the only aspect they could base their next target of, was the time it took to travel to it. So they planned to travel to the closest world from Traverse Town and, if the second world was closer to the first than Traverse Town, continue in the direction or return otherwise.

But still, there was no rush. Luckily they didn't need to hurry up thanks to Zelretch modifying their spaceship. It still didn't help there mood when they went to the Leon Shop and noticed it closed. Just like all the other shops in the Shopping Arcade.

In the end, Ji-Han actually had been grinding, after all. Though since he still couldn't concentrate on studying for hours on end, he still went running a lot. And so, like he had planned, he was mentally looking through the Hero Union BBS while his body was working out.

So, the first he looked at was the Account-section. It allowed him to change his name, enable or disable profanity and decide which communication-method to allow. The rest of the tags, Personal Threads, Contacts, Hero Chat and Alerts were pretty much straight forward. Only Traffic Stats was worth mentioning, as it was a series of diagrams showing how many threads and posts he published, how many people had read those threads as well as a history of the locations where he had been so far after becoming a member of the Hero Union and for how long.

Though it kinda surprised him that he had only been in the Digital World like a minute. Had that world really that much of a time difference compared to everything else? Seriously, with that much time difference, he had to watch out that the DigiDestined were even still alive if he decided to visit them. Or, on a lighter note, they could have already saved the world and gotten send back home. Nonetheless, it meant that Ji-Han would not meet them again if he decided to revisit the Digital World. Which was kind of a pity, but he guessed that was the fate of a multiverse traveler.

Since he couldn't do anything about it, he put that matter aside and started looking at the actual forums. First the Hero Coordination Board, where the most read threads were things like {You're not alone! Active hero assistance thread}, {Useful information for traveling}, as well as {All you need to know about Heartless}. The first and last didn't really tell him anything he didn't already know, but the second had information on camping and food preparation, especially useful for those ending up in worlds or places low on resources.

There was also a thread called {How to improve the living conditions in a low-technology world}, which had instructions on how to make things that he in Korea had been taken for granted like paper or glass. However, they all came with a disclaimer that the rules of physics sometimes did not work like in most worlds and that in some worlds trying to bring technological advancement meant pissing off the ruling class. One "Active Hero: Merchant (Dragon's Valley)" even warned that where he was, the world itself acted against anyone who tried to do so. And considering what the Seeker of Truth had said about his own Gaia, he was inclined to belief him. So, like he was not going to invite summoned or other to the world important people into his spaceship, he also had to refrain from giving the people any additional knowledge. Maybe he should make a thread on things that could piss off worlds…

Closing the thread he looked for another interesting one and literally halted in his tracks. The thread he had found? {Memorial to dead heroes}. Ji-Han opened it and came to a row of posts containing the name of a dead hero, their cause of death as well as link to a different thread were people could talk and mourn about the hero in detail.

And, to his shock, besides on "Active Hero: Laid-Back Swordmaster (Ixphoria)", all of the first deaths that did not have "died after reaching the end of their lifespan" as cause of death were from the Kingdom of Belzerg. As in, the world where he had just been in! Did Kazuma and Kyouya know?

And before he could calm down, he already got the next shock, as the most common cause of death turned into "world got destroyed by Heartless".

"Active Hero: Unconventional Barrister (Lunolde)", "Active Hero: Rave Master (Raregroove Kingdom), "Retired Hero: Peach Boy (272 Narakas)", "Active Hero: Super Dreadnaught Girl (Parallel Universe #23)", "Retired Hero: King (Eshalotto)".

It seemed that the Heartless had cut their bloody path even through the Hero Union. Not by actually killing a lot of heroes themselves, but by devouring their worlds while they were on it, probably even in defense of it. No wonder the chat had exploded when they realized who he was. He was their hope to the end of a long and impossible fight.

Not feeling like looking at the other stuff, he closed the BBS and went back to grinding.


"That will be 6000 Munny, is that alright?" Raul Chaser asked and Ji-Han nodded. With one Creeper Root being worth 1200 Munny, they went for 600 the last time, they sold them, too. And so he quickly pocketed the money, before he joined Shua in picking out what they might need for the next journey. Naofumi meanwhile was at the Akechi's, selling the cotton. Since they had been able to sell all the other drop items in the Kingdom of Belzerg; that was really the only thing left and so Naofumi should return soon…

Just as he had thought that, the door opened. Though it wasn't Naofumi who went in. Instead it was a pair of women and a dog. A young woman and a girl with her pet, which Ji-Han all actually knew.

[-Tera Guardian Princess-
Lv? Kuro]

[Sudden Anemia
-Tera Guardian Contractee-
Lv1 Otohime, Mutsumi]

"Ah, Han-san, good morning", greeted Mutsumi. "I have heard you have managed to find some companions and even saved a world already?"

"Good morning", Ji-Han greeted back. So it was morning? That explained why no shop had been open earlier. "Technically I have already saved three worlds, though one was just circumstantial. I had been summoned as a hero to defeat the demon lord and the world decided I should rather go and close the keyhole before leaving."

"Wait", interjected Kuro, "doesn't that mean you left a world behind without a hero to defend it?"

"Ah, no worries. Sage from the Hero Union came over and helped them get a replacement. Or rather, he was going to when I left. And Student said that he is like the go-to person for that, so it should be in good hands."

"Smear?"

"Ah, let me introduce my first companion, Shua. He's a Pokémon that Count D had entrusted to me, so that I can find his homeworld."

"Good morning."

"Hello."

"Smear!"

"My other companion is Iwatani Naofumi, the Hero of the Shield. Though even so he's called like that he isn't a member of the Hero Union."

"The Hero of the Shield?" Repeated Kuro. "We had someone like that here?"

"Yes", Ji-Han confirmed, "hey, in fact, just look at Raul-Ssi if you want. Picture him in leather armor with a metal breastplate, a green mantle and a fur collar and you've got Naofumi. They look pretty close to the same so you can easily recognize him like that, right?"

The door opened again.

"Oh, is that him-"

Before he had finished, Kuro had already spun around and ran towards the Hero of the Shield, before literally jumping him.

What the-

"Don't come in here!" She shouted before she slammed into the surprised Hero of the Shield and together they tumbled out of the Leon Shop.

"Naofumi?" Ji-Han exclaimed dumbfounded, before they all quickly followed the two outside.

"Get off me!" Demanded Naofumi but Kuro just clung onto him even more.

"Don't go in there!" She pleaded. "If a person meets their doppelganger, one of them is going to die!"

Naofumi just stared at her.

"Is that so in your world?"

Kuro froze. She let go of the Hero of the Shield, slowly backing up.

"Right… this isn't my world anymore… I am glad…" She sat on the ground, sobbing, while Mutsumi hugged her and petted her back saying "There, there."

Ji-Han stood awkwardly next to them, not knowing what to say or do. Fortunately, he didn't need to think of anything as Naofumi came to his rescue, reminding him that they were going to buy stuff. So Ji-Han quickly followed the Hero of the Shield with Shua, continuing to prepare for the journey.


"A sword technique?" Repeated Tohko Ji-Han's odd request and the Gamer nodded.

"To defeat the Heartless I need to do hit them with my Keyblade. But so far my only special technique I can use multiple times is Fight-elemental. So, as soon as the enemy got a resistance to that, I am forced to go with normal attacks. So something like setting my sword aflame would be really great!" That a flaming sword was also really cool was also a nice bonus.

Unfortunately, Tohko had to disappoint him.

"None of the books I have really gave the impression of adding their elements to a sword", she explained. "Only some who can make weapons on their own, but that is not what you need." True. Even if that would be pretty cool. "But I do have some that improve physical abilities if you want some of those instead."

"That actually sounds pretty good", decided Ji-Han. Physical enhancements would stack with any physical attack he used, be it a skill like Power Strike or his normal attacks, no matter if the Keyblade counted as a blunt or slashing weapon. "Lead on."

So, he followed Tohko back to the place with all the magical books. Though before the book girl took out any of the magical books, she turned back to Ji-Han and asked him how much he would be willing to spend on any of them. The answer to that question was two million.

"A book with reinforcement for two million", she repeated. "That would mean… this one." She took out one with a shining black surface. "This one…" Followed by a simple green one." And…no, that was it. There are two more but those have a value of over 500 and 800 million." She gave the books to Ji-Han.

"The black one is 952 000 Munny and the green one is 629 000."

PING!

{You have obtained the skill book
[Obsidian Magic: Obsidian Skin].}

{Would you like to learn this skill?}
{YES} {NO}

PING!

{You have obtained the skill book
[Drug Magic: Muscle Explosion].}

{Would you like to learn this skill?}
{YES} {NO}

The first one was pretty easy to figure out. If you looked at the name, it was clearly a defense-enhancing ability. Not exactly what he had been looking for, but not bad either. The second one, however, was a bit different. Not too much, but taking the name at face-value, it would increase his muscles, which generally meant STR but also could increase DEX or VIT. The most problem Ji-Han had with this skill was that it was "Drug Magic". It wouldn't surprise him, if it had some negative consequences, like reducing his INT and WIS at the same time it raised his other stats.

On the other hand, he had enough Munny that he could easily buy both skills and still have some over. And with a bit over 600 000 Munny it was even less expansive then the Breeze of Regeneration he had bought.

So, in the end Ji-Han decided to buy both, after all.

Unfortunately…

{You cannot learn this skill.}

{Required INT: 30}

…Obsidian Skin needed 30 INT to learn. And Muscle Explosion…

{You cannot learn this skill.}

{Required INT: 35
Required WIS: 25}

What?! Why did the muscle enhancement need more INT that the other one?!

Ji-Han shook his head and sighed. So much for that.


"Tohko-Ssi?" He turned back to her. "Please give me some school books, too."

"Excuse me! How can I get my hands on a shield like yours?" When they left the book shop, they were stopped by a girl with brown eyes, smooth, shoulder-length black hair with a cowlick on top of it. She wore a school uniform consisting of a black blazer, a blue checked skirt and a blue tie.

[Lv2 Honjou, Kaede]

The girl was currently admiring Naofumi's seashell-encrusted Water God Shield, studying it from all sides excitedly. The Hero of the Shield meanwhile, did not really like all that attention.

"This shield is a legendary weapon I got from a world", he rebuked her annoyed. "It is not something you can get by pestering someone about it."

"Oh, that's a pity", she exclaimed, seemingly not bothered by Naofumi's attitude. "Then do you know where I can get a shield – ah, no, I first got to get some money, right? Or is there some place with a shield as a treasure?"

"What kind of convenient world did you live in?" Retorted the Hero of the Shield, shaking his head. "If you want a shield you have to get someone to make you one."

"But for that I need money, right? Izu said it was like a million, right?"

"I think basic armor, shields and weapon should be less expensive…" Mused Ji-Han and Kaede nodded.

"Ah, right, I haven't even gotten the starter gear, yet!"

"Starter gear?" Repeated Naofumi. "Do you think this is a game?!"

Kaede looked at him confused.

"It isn't? Wasn't this the second floor?"

"This is Traverse Town, a world made out of the remnants of the worlds that have been devoured by Heartless", explained Naofumi. "How do you not know that? When did you get to Traverse Town?"

"Oh, eh, this… night?"

"It's always night in Traverse Town", Ji-Han waved here response away. "How often did you go to sleep?"

"Now that you mention it, I do am starting to get a little sleepy…"

In other words, she came to Traverse Town just this day. However…

"…that shouldn't be possible!" Declared Ji-Han. "I've been traveling the last week from world to world to close their keyholes and save them from the darkness! And so far I haven't failed once! There shouldn't be people who have been stranded in Traverse Town for less than that!"

"Not necessarily", interjected Naofumi. "If a world does not trust any outsider, it would not ask for your help, even if it was besieged by Heartless."

"…Or it might only do so once it's too late", realized Ji-Han. "Since Zelretch's Kaleidoscope only activated if I accepted the quest, there might not have been enough time between the world asking for help and the next time I hit the bridge of the spaceship. And there are some worlds were the time just flows by like the Digital World. So even if I do my best, I can still not protect every world."

How depressing.

"Ehm", interrupted Kaede. "I think you lost me. What is this talk about worlds, keys and children's toys?"

"You see", began Ji-Han. "It's like this…"

Kaede took the explanation as well as expected. At first she actually had been enthusiastic about getting "Isekaied", until she realized that unlike the stories where a character gets send to another world during playing their favorite game, she didn't get her avatar's powers.

And then it sank in that with "destruction of the world", it also meant that all her friends and family had been lost with it.

"Are… are you telling me that everyone… everyone… is dead?" She finally brought out and Ji-Han winced.

"Technically… I am on a mission to restore all the worlds and thus the people in it", he began, "but…"

Ji-Han still remembered what Seikuu said about hope and he didn't want Kaede false one that would just turn into despair when he could not fulfill it. Turning her into a Heartless. Just like Akari.

"…I have no idea when that would happen." He continued. "It could be in a year, it could be in a decade and maybe I would still be at in in a century. Since I don't age, I will only stop if something kills me, but I don't know if you will still be around to witness it."

With that Ji-Han had made the situation clear enough that there should be no false hope that would later on turn into despair. Now he had to make sure she did not turn into a Heartless this very moment.

"That said… you are still alive. And no matter how cheesy that sounds, I am pretty sure your friends and family would want you to keep on living for them. Like, they would be happier knowing that you did not give up. If you fall into despair and turn into a Heartless, that's it; and not even I will be able to change it.

So, to copy what people said to me when I ended up here, find yourself something to do. Talk to many people, see what they do and find your own place. The restaurant Wagnaria, the inn Konohanatei, the Leon Shop, one of the other shops, the Hospital, the TSAB, the Time-Space Administration Bureau. There are many things you can do, either in Traverser Town or, if you go with the TSAB or the Leon Shop, in other worlds, if you want to see them. Heck, if you want you can even join us in our quest to restore the worlds. Though in that case you should first train a bit."

"Oh", she inquired with sparkling eyes. "You mean like a hero?!"

"Right", Ji-Han confirmed. "But in that case you should train a bit. We do get into life and death battles, after all. And you really shouldn't decide on something like that before you've seen the Heartless."

"…right."

"Alright! [Status Window]! Here's 3000 Munny. I've had that much, when I started out, too. Now, I'll teach you the most important skill in Traverse Town: Calling for the Delivery God Yato. All you have to do is pray for him. And wait a bit. After that, he'll show up and for 50 Munny does most stuff you asks of him. Like getting escorted to other places."

"A god? A real god?!"

"Yep, a real god. So, try it out."

"Yes!"

Kaede folded her hands and closed her eyes.

"Dear God Yato", she muttered. "Please come and…" She opened her eyes again. "…Why am I calling him again?"

"So that he can escort you to the White Ant. There you can get a map and a list of available jobs, so that you can get an overview of things one can do in Traverse Town. Now, do you want to do it on your own or would you prefer if I come with you?"

"Ah, please don't waste too much time on me", she answered him. "I would feel bad if I held you back from saving other worlds."

To be fair, they had technically all the time in the world; but that was only for the worlds they currently had a quest for. And while he really could do nothing to prevent worlds asking him too late, unless he were to constantly stay on the bridge looking for incoming "calls", his speech to Kaede had revealed one other problem with taking his time. Namely, the people stranded in Traverse Town would grow older, while the people currently lost would probably not. If he wanted Kaede to be reunited with her friends, he had not all the time in the world. The more time he took, the older she became. This was especially true for all the other people who had come to Traverse Town before he appeared.

It would suck if he managed to restore the worlds and then a resident of Traverse Town would pass away the next day in the arms of their loved ones for whom just a day had passed? Not to mention those that actually had passed already away.

So if Kaede didn't want to keep him waiting, he should honor her wish. Though he still stuck around until Yato showed up so that she wouldn't be attacked by Heartless while she was alone. But he did study during that time and afterwards it was instantly getting to the spaceship and starting the new journey. Especially, since one of the worlds was away three and a half days, while the other was five. So, yeah, the earlier they started the batter. And if for some reason they were not ready by the time they got to the world, like his new skills still not having leveled up enough, they had enough food that they could orbit the world for a few days to prepare themselves.


{You have slept for eight hours in a comfortable bed.
Your HP and MP have been fully restored.}

"[Night Eye]!"

At this point it had already become a routine for Ji-Han to use a skill right after he woke up and it changed only which one and for how long. In this case, he did not use Night Eye until his MP was near 0, since they had already reached the other world and might go down any day now. The reason why they hadn't already the day before had been, not his new skills like they had expected, but Naofumi needing more time to master his new shields.

That was not to say that the new skills Astral Projection, Obsidian Skin and Muscle Explosion were already on a useable level. No, but they had too high of an MP-Cost for Ji-Han to use them for anything except short bursts anytime soon.

For example, Astral Projection at level 30 cost 14 MP every second. The same with Obsidian Skin at level 20, only with 26 MP per second. Considering his MP regeneration was counted in the minutes with using up all his points on WIS and even with Meditation at level 21, there was never a time where he could continuously activate either of them. That Astral Projection negated the effects of Meditation while in use, was just the icing on the cake.

Muscle Explosion was not even a continuous skill, but one that he had to activate every time manually and then he gained an increase in STR for a fixed duration. At level 3 it cost 50 MP to increase his STR by 7 with the effect holding for 12 seconds. So, while he did not get any negative effects like he had originally expected, it wasn't the game-breaking skill he had hoped for either. Especially considering how much he had to study to even be able to learn the skill.

So, what he had been grinding the last day instead of the new skills were High Jump, Night Eye and LUK. Funnily enough, playing cards actually did raise his LUK. It just was an incredible slow process. Even with a LUK lower than 20, it had taken him longer than increasing his INT over 30. So really not something he should be wasting time with, unless he combined it with something else like leveling up High Jump.

So that was what he had done the day before. What about today?

When Ji-Han went to the canteen, Shua hadn't been there and neither had Naofumi in the Training Room. It looked like they were still asleep, meaning he had to do something he could do on his own.

He activated the Training Program, specifically the Combat Mode and chose a certain Heartless as his opponent: The Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee. This was not done as a form of stress relief or to see if he was now strong enough to take it on. No, it was just rather good at coming relentlessly after him, which was enough of a threat to allow him to grind Dodge Roll by using it manually. After all, if there was no enemy, it still only counted as training and so he didn't get the jump in proficiency he got when he managed to pull it off in the middle of combat. Just like he needed a combat-situation to increase his Keyblade Mastery and co.

Speaking of…

Ji-Han summoned his Keyblade "Afterlife Fantasy". It was made up out of multiple parts resembling one of Kazuma's party members. The hilt looked similar to the top of Megumin's staff but instead of the red orb it had a green and an orange jewel that resembled what Kazuma used to hold his cape in place. The blade resembled a normal sword, but the teeth were in the shape of Darkness shoulder feathers wrapped around its tip and the key chain looked like Aqua's hair clip.

But what was the most special compared to the others was, that it was the longest of all the Keyblades currently in his possession. Which was why he opened his inventory and switched it with the Binary Spirit, the shorter of his two Slashing-type Keyblades. That one had a lower chance of messing up his attempts of manually using Dodge Roll.

This finished, he activated the training program. Let's see how high he could get Dodge Roll before Naofumi showed up!


"Parkour?" Inquired Naofumi as he entered the training room. "That is unusual for you, isn't it?"

Inside the room were multiple platforms floating in the air and multiple Air Soldiers carrying around Bizarre Archers, taking pot-shots at the Gamer as he jumped down from one such platform.

"[Training Pause]", Ji-Han spoke up as he noticed the newcomer, halting all the enemies and their projectiles in mid-air.

"Hi", he then greeted his party member. "Actually I had been speed-grinding Dodge Roll, but when I hit level 32, it stayed at a distance of three meters and instead added a special effect: If I get damage during the Dodge Roll, it is now reducing it by 1 percent. I think if I level up the skill to 100, I'd get some actual Invincibility Frames. Of course, now that the skill has that added, the speed-grinding just isn't working anymore.

So I instead tried to find a way to speed-grind High Jump. That worked a lot better. Especially here in the training room where I can manually set the height of the platforms to too high for a normal jump but not too far to reach with a High Jump. It's now level 39!

Oh, and you know what else leveled up? Keyblade Mastery! And with level 44, I got another skill. Which one? Heal!"

Ji-Han now sounded actually agitated. It wasn't to say he felt his money was wasted, but getting another healing skill for free after buying Breeze of Regeneration did leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Is it worse than the Wind Magic?" Inquired Naofumi and Ji-Han sighed.

"For the most part", he answered. "It takes all of my remaining MP and heals the HP of my target by a percentage of the MP used, currently 20. So, if I use it with 600 MP left, I'll end up with 120 HP more, but no more MP left. The only saving grace is that it's working instantly, but not being able to use any other skills afterwards really hurts."

"So even if you level it up, you can only use it in combination with Ether Potions or Manatite Crystals", the Hero of the Shield reasoned and Ji-Han nodded.

"I really need to up my MP regeneration…"

Any further conversation was put on halt, as Shua entered the room, greeting them with a "Smear".

"Now that everyone is awake, we can eat breakfast and then finally teleport down", noted Naofumi. "The White Elf Hair Shield had finished overnight, so I am ready now."

That were good news. Now they didn't had to wait any longer.


"A square city?" Ji-Han couldn't help but exclaim as soon as the light from the teleportation died down. He stood on top of a green hill overlooking a town in the shape of a rectangle, surrounded on all sides by walls, then a moat and then trees. At the walls there was a girdle of living space with houses and greenery, followed by inner walls. The only entrance was a red gate on the – from his point of view – far right side of the downwards wall, a road cutting from their through the outer wall, the moat and the trees.

What a peculiar place for the only gate to be. Didn't you normally put the gates in the middle so that the time to reach the rest of the place was minimized? Wait.

Ji-Han noticed how in the inside of the inner wall were also more walls, separating the city into multiple segments. Segments that were kinda placed like a spiral leading to the only building higher than the walls: A white square tower with red roofs in the style of traditional Japanese buildings, surrounded by billows of fog in unnatural rings and upward spirals.

This – this looked just like a game where he would start at the gate and had to fulfill a task, before he was allowed into the next area until he finally reached the center where his goal – the keyhole – lay.

"Somehow I get the feeling, we'll be here for some time", mused the Gamer, resulting in Naofumi asking what he meant. But as Ji-Han made to explain his thoughts, he stopped short as his gaze fell upon Naofumi for the first time after coming to the world. And man, did he look different.

His hair was shaved off at the forehead and along the head in two stripes, leaving one patch of hair in the middle and two side bums, which were hardly longer than a few centimeter compared to the spiky hair from before. And then he wore a green kimono with a silver pattern of rings with smaller symbols within them, connected to each other with straight lines. His footwear also changed into something resembling a cross between sandals and wool socks made out of straw instead. Only the shield was the same.

"What happened to your hair?" Ji-Han asked about the biggest change and Naofumi shrugged, not even trying to find out how he had changed.

"This is most likely the effect of Zelretch's magic", he reasoned. "It was supposed to change us to make us fit with the locals. From our changes I assume we are in a world that is close to the Japanese Edo period in culture."

"Our changes?" Ji-Han looked down on himself. "Why am I wearing a dress?"

"It's a hakama", corrected Naofumi while rolling his eyes. "Haven't you seen those in Samurai movies before?"

"Is that so?" The white top did look a bit like those dobok that Sun-Il and gramps wore during exercise and the black hakama did not restrict his movements.

Suddenly his attention got caught by someone pulling at his sleeve.

"Yeah", he asked as he spun around. "What is it- SHUA?!" The last part he couldn't help but shout out loud in surprise as he caught sight of someone who was clearly the Pokémon, yet at the same time not exactly a Pokémon.

Instead Shua now looked like a four to five-year old boy of eastern descent with fair skin and brown hair that peeked out like flappy ears from under a white pointy straw hat. The rest of his fur had been exchanged with something that Naofumi could have told him was a jimbei, but looked to him more like sleepwear: A white shirt with short yet wide sleeves and short trousers out of the same thin material. The only thing that were not white were the brown trims, as well as the indigo paw print on the back. As well as the two rings of brown face paint or make-up circling his eyes and his wooden flip-flops.

In fact, Shua now looked so different that Ji-Han had trouble believing it actually was the Pokémon, even though he could see the name floating above the head. If it weren't for the white girdle around his waist with only one hold on the right for a bushy paintbrush whose tip was covered in indigo paint, that is.

"Oh, look, Naofumi", he exclaimed, pretending to be overjoyed, "Shua has turned into a real boy!"

The Pokémon in question gave him a look that conveyed how unimpressed he was with the Gamer, before jumping, pulling the brush from its hold and striking clean over Ji-Han's face, leaving behind a blue streak.

"Alright, alright, sorry", Ji-Han tried to placate the Pokémon. "But it's nothing to worry about. As Naofumi said, this is Zelretch's Magic at work. It should only change the appearance, not functionality. As you have been bipedal before, you shouldn't have any problem moving or fighting, right?"

Shua gave him another stare and then used his brush to silently point at his throat. Silently?

"You've turned mute?" Ji-Han exclaimed in surprise. It wasn't like Shua as a Pokémon had been able to use conventional words before, but he did manage to convey his mood through his tone of voice. So, suddenly being unable to say anything? That was actually a handicap.

"I assume that the same way that his original appearance would get unwanted attention, so would only being able to speak a single word", reasoned Naofumi and Ji-Han had to admit, he had a point. The reason he had recognized Shua as a Pokémon had been because of his unnatural speech pattern, after all. So it wasn't unlikely that it would raise unwanted attention even in worlds that did not know about Pokémon.

"Maybe we should teach him how to write…" Wondered Ji-Han. "Ah, wait, that won't work." Writings didn't get auto-translated, after all. "Maybe sign language?"

"Only if you are prepared to learn one with him", Naofumi pointed out. "Otherwise you would still not be able to understand what he is trying to say."

Shua opened his mouth to say something, but no sound escaped it, making him depressed.

"Don't be sad", Ji-Han tried to comfort the Pokémon. "We'll learn a sign language as soon as we get back to Traverse Town, I promise. For now, just clap your hands loudly, if you need to get our attention."

Shua was still not happy about the situation, but at the moment there was nothing they could do about it. So they put the matter aside for now and went down the hill towards the city. The further they went down towards the gate, the more they could make out the traditional Japanese buildings, the road leading to the gate and the many people moving in and out of the city. He even saw one or two rickshaws getting pulled along the road.

But as they were able to see the people on the road, so were the people able to see them. And despite the fact that Shua had transformed into a human to avoid standing out, the people gave them curious and wary glances, like they knew that they not belonged here. Why was that?

Yet since nobody was actually stopping them and his two party members continued without hesitation, Ji-Han did so, too, if a bit more conscious about the gazes of the other people.

"Halt!"

And then they were actually stopped on the gate by two women in military uniform consisting of a black overall, a green hakama and a white band with green and orange stripes at the trim and a black cross on top of it on one sleeve. The first woman called {Iwakura, Oshima} wore the band on her left upper arm and the second, one {Asukai, Shiozawa}, wore it on her right. Aside from that, the only real difference between them was the hair. Black with a normal ponytail and brown with a low-starting ponytail respectively. Their level {14} and Class {-Labyrinth Town's 10th District Patrol Unit Officer-} was the same. And in front of them was another woman:

[-Labyrinth Town's 10th District Patrol Unit Captain-
LV18 Iroi, Saku]

Saku had short orange hair and opposite to the other two, she did not were a hakama but shorts that did not hid her black knee-socks as well as a belt in the colors of her armband on her left upper arm. A samurai sword had been attached to the belt, or rather the sheath of one, as she had already drawn it and pointed it towards him.

Ji-Han couldn't help but get reminded of the time Kyouya had threatened him, when the woman continued with "You are under arrest."

Ji-Han dutifully raised his hands but Naofumi was a lot more confrontational:

"And why are we supposed to be under arrest?"

"You are under arrest for entering Labyrinth Town during the Wedding Kimono Festival", she explained, but it only increased Ji-Han's confusion.

"There is a bunch of people coming in and out of this city!" He defended himself. "Why don't you arrest them?!"

Saku was starting to get angry.

"Don't play dumb!" She demanded. "Why else would you come to Labyrinth Town than to flirt with the Urara?!"

"I am looking for the keyhole", Ji-Han explained. He had no idea what Urara were, but apparently they were well known enough that people would try to snuck into the city to "flirt" with them. He just didn't know exactly, what made him look like he was one of those people though.

"I've got to find the keyhole and close it before the Heartless reach it."

"Keyhole? Heartless?" Saku repeated before shaking her head. "No matter."

She put away her sword.

"I have never heard of any of these, so it would explain why you want to ask the Urara. I will give you the benefit of the doubt this once. Go and come back tomorrow. Today is the Wedding Kimono Festival and that means no males!"

Ji-Han lowered his arms.

So that's why he had gotten those wary looks before. And why only women moved through the gate now that he looked for it. Wait.

"I have to wait a whole day?!" He shouted. "This is literally a matter of time and death and I have no idea how much time we have!"

Just recently they had found out that worlds actually could get devoured if he took too long. And while he didn't think, he had to close the keyhole this day, it was still one day he would lose. And considering the layout of Labyrinth Town with the districts… he had to start as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately the Captain would not listening.

"Shall I arrest you, after all?!" She threatened and Ji-Han quickly backed off.

"Alright, alright", he placated her. "We're going." Under their watchful eye, Ji-Han left the town, followed by his two party members.

"This isn't good", mused Ji-Han but Naofumi shrugged.

"Why? Because you can't get to saving the world right this instance?" He asked. "If you are really in such a hurry, just wait for the Heartless to appear and then enter the town to kill it. The people should be less hostile to you afterwards."

"That's actually a good point", admitted Ji-Han. "Even if that only works if a Heartless that is close to the entrance… And I can't loiter around or I'll get arrested, after all."

"Then why don't you let yourself be arrested?" Suggested Naofumi. "You have the Keyblade. It's not like any prison door will stay locked before you. And it would get you in the middle of the city where more Heartless after other people would be attracted to your Keyblade."

Ji-Han stopped.

"That sounds like a plan", he noted. "They'll be suspicious if we get caught too easily, but other than that…"

"There is no need to go to prison just yet, The Gamer. Oh, no need to be hostile."

All three of them had spun around, readying their weapons. In front of them stood a tall man with broad shoulders in a purple kimono. His brown hair was extremely short except for the one strand at the front that resembled a scythe. Below its base was a small green oval gem, held to the forehead with a single string. His right eye was covered by a make-shift eyepatch that was actually a bluish monocle with a golden ornamented handle held put by a black leather strand diagonally over his face. And above his head:

[Rat Bastard
-Interdimensional Merchant-
Lv24 Adams, Samuel]

"People call me Rabat", he introduced himself with a name that Ji-Han knew was fake. "And I am a merchant who travels to places far and wide, gathering the most esoteric of items, if you catch my drift. I belief I have something that might help you with your current… problem."

Places far and wide? That's one way to refer to other worlds. Still, what kind of title is {Rat Bastard}? It made him sound kind of shady.

"How much can such a shady character like you actually help us?" And apparently Naofumi managed to deduce the same even without the additional information."

"Oh, I think that I am the perfect guy for you at this moment", he declared. "Why don't we go somewhere else to talk business? It's quite crowded here. My little shop should be better for conversations, don't you think?"

He kinda had a point in saying that a shady character would be helpful at the moment, considering that they were trying to illegally enter a city.

"Alright", Ji-Han agreed. "Lead the way."


It had started to rain when they reached Rabat's shop. Yet it was a light sun shower that did not made them hurry up and get into the rather large building made out of cheap tent flaps. The inside looked just as cheap, the goods however, did not. Elaborate clothes of different types, gemstones and other accessories for the rich. Heck, there was even a goblet of beautiful red crystals, proudly greeting them.

But then Rabat pushed away another flap, revealing a futuristic-looking metal door, behind which was a hall in the same style, reminding him of the FO Vimana.

"Is this your spaceship?" Ji-Han inquired curiously and the merchant answered in the affirmative:

"Indeed. Usually I have to hide it because the people of this world are not used to interdimensional travel. But as you are a traveler of the multiverse yourself, I can actually show you my true selection."

They went into a room and Ji-Han's eyes widened in surprise at the many miscellaneous things placed there on the shelves and next to them.

A small shard of a pink crystal in a test tube, a red-glowing Knight chess piece, a full vending machine of something called {Doc Tear Popper}, an ominous-feeling piece of chalk, a sledgehammer next to a class showcase containing a sword which skull at the guard was actually whistling with pursed lips and a sad expression, a freaking dragon ball, if with a black star instead of the usual orange and some playing cards for different games like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon from Yugioh, together with a red keycard-like object that had {Ri} written on it in black with a small crown on top of the {R}. Not to mention…

"…He's got a Nameless Class Card!" Ji-Han exclaimed excited and Naofumi cursed.

"Stay focused", he admonished the Gamer. "First we have to see if we can get into Labyrinth Town. If you still have some Munny left afterwards, then you can think of buying that one."

"Oh, I think, we can come to an agreement", Rabat noted. "If you don't have enough money, you can still trade with some goods of your own."

"Maybe you can give him one of your Plushie Coupons", Naofumi suggested drily, making Ji-Han roll his eyes.

"It had worked, didn't it? Speaking of… [Inventory]!"

Ji-Han ripped the Plushie Coupon apart and after a puff of smoke, held a 25cm-large Plushie in his hands. It was a girl with amber eyes and long white hair, a cowlick pointing to the right like a question mark and two flaps that resembled Shua's current pseudo-ears, just in white. Her backless tank top was of black color and her red skirt looked more like a jacket which sleeves one had tied around her waist with two long ribbons going over her shoulders and wrapped around her arms.

"And that's the Plushie Coupon, an item that turns into different Plushie depending on which world it is used one", Ji-Han explained. "Would you like one yourself?"

"I don't really think I can consider a toy in the same price category as a weapon", Rabat pointed out.

"A weapon that breaks after one use is hardly that more useful, especially against Heartless", Naofumi responded. "But luckily we are not here for that. Show us your solution already, before the day is over and we're just be going to be able to walk into the city without whatever you are trying to sell us."

"Of course."

He went to a shelf and took a pink box off it.

"Here", he opened it and showed them the contents: A yellow diamond bedded in white padding.

Still, the shape had something familiar to it…

"Is this a Chaos Emerald?" Wondered Ji-Han and one [Observe] confirmed his suspicions. So, Sonic was a thing? Still… "…how is a single Chaos Emerald going to help us get undetected into Labyrinth Town?"

"I actually grabbed the wrong box", admitted the merchant. "Unless you are interested…"

"Just give us the actual deal", Naofumi demanded with narrowed eyes.

"Alright, please wait a minute… ah, here." He came back with another pink box. This one had a bottom segment of trapezium shape and a curved top and at the front was a heart over something resembling a simplified pair of wings. Then Rabat pressed on the heart, releasing the clasp and opening the box. Inside was, also on white bedding, a beautiful crystal flower of a light violet color.

"[Observe]!"

{[Headdress Flower - Rank: Ultra]
Base-Value: 960 000 Munny
A hair ornament with mystical powers.
As long as it is worn, it transforms the user into a
beautiful woman of the same age, clothes included.}

His eyes widened. So that's how he can get into a female-only area: Becoming a female himself!

"And here I had been working so hard on having Zelretch not turn me into a magical girl", he noted with amusement. "Funny how that works."

"It transforms you into a girl?" Inquired Naofumi. "Does that mean you would have to go alone?"

"That is actually a downside", realized Ji-Han. "Or do you have more of these?"

"One not enough for you?" Rabat responded shaking his head. "These things don't grow in test tubes! With the many worlds falling prey to the Heartless, I cannot even tell you, if the world I found it on was their original world or if it had just gotten stranded there."

"That still makes it less useful for our purposes", the Hero of the Shield pointed out. "Having Ji-Han go on his own is quite a risk. Especially, since we don't know yet how strong the Heartless in this world are."

"Not really", claimed Rabat. "The people in this world don't have much fire power. If there were any strong Heartless, you would have heard a lot more screaming."

Ouch. That was dark. But true. So far they had yet to meet any Heartless in this world and the people were able to hold a festival without fear. Heck, Saku hadn't even known what Heartless were. That all pointed to a low threat.

And even if Rabat was wrong and the Heartless were too strong for Ji-Han to handle, the peaceful nature of the town meant that there should be enough people around able to combat any Heartless that appeared. So, even on his own, Ji-Han should not be in danger.

Not that he voiced any of his thoughts since Naofumi was currently busy haggling with the Interdimensional Merchant over the price of the Headdress Flower.

In the end, Ji-Han got away with paying only 500 000 Munny for something nearly worth a million and the [Nameless Class Card: Nameless Spear], by exchanging it with items that only Ji-Han had as they were drop items created by his Gamer, like 5 of each of the elemental shards he had yet to find any use for and – to Naofumi's chagrin – a Plushie Coupon.

Even if Ji-Han had to admit, he had no idea why the last one actually worked. The Blaze, Frost and Thunder Shard Rabat explained with trying to find a way to use for them – the reason why he wanted multiple ones of them. But the actual Plushie Coupon? His best guess was that Rabat already had a buyer in mind to whom to sell that one away for a large profit. But as long as they got what they wanted, this didn't matter. Speaking of…

"Try it out!" Naofumi told the Gamer, wanting to see if that really worked for them or if something on Ji-Han would block it.

"So, how do you exactly wear this thing?" Mused Ji-Han as he took it out of the box and fumbled with the yellow ribbon underneath. "…I think I need a mirror…"

"In the first room is a person-sized one", Rabat told him and together they ventured to the area suited for the people of this world. There Ji-Han finally managed to find the clasp and attached the flower to the left side of his hair.

"This looks stupid", he said, before the flower glowed, followed by his whole body. Within moments his clothes evaporated to be replaced by a white summer dress reaching his knees with a purple ribbon around his waist, his skin became more smooth, his waist more slender, his hips and bust more pronounced and his hair grew until it hit his back.

Ji-Han took a look at his new appearance. Damn, he was quite the beauty, wasn't he? Fair, smooth skin, sparkling hazel eyes, long smooth hair of a shimmering silver – freaking silver – color. His chest wasn't the largest by a long shot, but it actually worked better to sell the pure-hearted maiden-look the dress was going for. And helped a lot as he did his best to not direct any untoward attention towards them.

"How do I look?" Ji-Han asked the others in a voice too high for his original appearance. He spun around – and promptly twisted his ankle and faceplanted onto the floor.

"You have to work on your balance, before you make a convincing girl", Naofumi just noted, to which Ji-Han just cursed in response.

"It's not my fault the dress came with heels!" He defended himself, trying his best to pick himself up and stay that way.

PING!

{[Balance]'s Level has risen by 1.}

Oh, right, he had that skill, didn't he? Maybe if he grinded it enough, he could actually walk in these things…

Ji-Han took off the shoes, noting interestingly that they didn't vanish.

"Anybody got some shoes I can walk in?"

"Why don't you just go barefoot?" Suggested Naofumi drily. "Your VIT should be high enough no matter how sensitive you used to be. And it probably fit better to that dress than anything else we can come up with."

"You could buy a completely new dress", suggested Rabat but the Hero of the Shield just rolled his eyes.

"Of course you would suggest that", he exclaimed, shaking his head. "But unless you can honestly tell us that his current clothing is too conspicuous for this world and have something that's not and easy to fight in, buying something like that from you would be pointless."

"And they shouldn't be something that the Patrol Officers wore", added Ji-Han. "No matter how good those are for combat, looking like someone of a military force or police would get too much attention."

"Western-style clothes are not unseen in this world", Rabat finally admitted.

"And during a festival, foreign people are not out of place", added Naofumi.

"I think I'll have to stay an hour in the training room to figure this stuff out", Ji-Han decided shuffling a bit. Would the dress hamper his movements or not? "I'll come back later, if I need anything else."

"Thank you for your patronage!"


{By using [Heart Key: Open] without using the skill,
[Heart Key: Open]'s level has risen by 4.}

Ji-Han stared in surprise at the message that appeared when he transformed the Nameless Class Card into a real one with his Keyblade. That one was actually a feature of Heart Key? And because he hadn't known about that and tried to connect the new card the same way he had with Tyr's he fast-leveled the skill. How funny. But let's see what he got…

"[Observe]!"

{[Rider Class Card - Rank: Gold]
Base-Value: 8 620 864 216 Munny
A card created to capture part of the powers of a Heroic Spirit.
Has the ability to connect to the Heroic Spirit
[Idzuka, Chisa] under the Rider-Class.}

"Rider-Class?" mused Ji-Han, still in female-mode – opposite to his party members who had changed back upon teleporting back in – as he took a look at the new cover with the charioteer standing on top of a two-wheeled chariot, his metal gauntlets holding the reigns of beats outside the frame. Additionally he had a triangular helmet and besides the metal torso also something like a metal chin protection. The lower body was covered with a small mantle and on his hip was a sheathed sword.

So, the Nameless Spear turned into the Rider Class? He wondered just how much the original card mattered. Tyr had been a Nameless Sword and turned into an Archer who threw swords, so would this one be a guy riding his spear like a broomstick?

Thinking about it, why didn't he just try it out and see what happens?

For that he made the training room create an enemy and then pointed the card at it while his two party members watched in interest.

"[Card Summoning]!"

What appeared was someone who Ji-Han had trouble thinking of a hero, if he hadn't been a member of the Hero Union. She was a girl of middle-school age with red eyes and black hair styled in twintails. Her uniform consisted of a light blue shirt under a yellow top, a red tie, a blue skirt, black thigh-highs and indoor shoes, also of black color.

The girl squat down and with a piece of chalk slowly drew a circle around the Holographic Drone, before vanishing.

"Is that it?!" Exclaimed Ji-Han incredulous as he walked over to the drone. He just lost…

"[Status Window]!"

…250 MP for a circle of chalk on the ground that didn't do anything?

"[Observe]!"

{Territory [Flying Witches Chalk Circle] - Rank: Super
Whoever touches the ground within the drawn circle
becomes invisible to anyone who does not.}

Wait, seriously?

Ji-Han cut the drone with his Binary Spirit and stepped into the ring.

"Invisibility?" Inquired Naofumi and Ji-Han nodded. Before remembering what invisibility meant.

"Yeah", he thus voiced. "But you can still hear me, right?"

"Yes." "Smear!"

His party members moved over to him, studying the circle. Shua used his brush to paint over a part of the circle and suddenly their eyes moved up towards Ji-Han, telling the Gamer that he was visible again.

"So we've got a method of invisibility that is stationary, takes one to two seconds to set up, does not block any other senses, has only enough space for maybe two people if they are slender and loses its effect the instance someone disrupts the chalk?" Naofumi summarized. "If that's your power attempting to help deal with the sneaking-in issue, it should try again."

Ji-Han snorted.

"It wasn't like we were counting on it to help us sneak into Labyrinth Town", he pointed out. "We've got the Headdress Flower for that." And the dress wasn't actually that hard to fight in with. His legs had enough space for movements without getting tangled up. The only real problem was protecting his modesty during a Dodge Roll, but since he wasn't a girl in the first place, he didn't really have a problem with someone seeing his panties if it came down to a fight.

"Let's get down again and get a bag from Rabat", he decided. After all, who visitor to a festival would not carry around someone where they could carry the stuff they bought in or at last, the money they could buy stuff with.


A/N:

Hi, guys and gals.

Now you've got to see the real reason why I decided to have Leon Shop with Raul as the one who does multi-dimensional transactions instead of a business from a different anime: It was literally to have Kuro freak out. Though I wonder just how many of you actually have read or watch Kurokami and can thus really appreciate it.

On another note related to the first part, Rabat fulfills the role of the merchant of not quite legal merchandise, a smuggler who's also, as shown in this chapter, quite the con-artist.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku