Chapter 1: Of Cats and Heartless
"Look! A new stop!"
At Goofy's yell, Sora and Donald rushed to the window. Their gummi ship had just left Yen Sid's tower after a quick stop on their continued quest to stop the Heartless and Nobodies in their mysterious goal. Now it was off to new worlds.
This world looked particularly strange. While others tended to look like a rounded globe with a building or some other structure on top, this one was simply a golden paw mark. A glance at the dashboard of the gummi ship revealed the title The Cat Kingdom.
"Paws?" Sora murmured. The teen rubbed the back of his spiky brown hair and squinted his sky-blue eyes in consternation. "Who do ya think lives there?"
"Only one way ta find out!" Goofy responded cheerfully. Donald tapped the tip of his staff against his feathered palm.
"Time to take out more Heartless." The duck growled before parking the ship.
The bright lights that clouded their vision cleared to reveal…not what they were expecting. Large buildings towered over them as they stood on pavement. What bewildered Sora was that the signs were in his native Japanese and many of the people walking by seemed to be around his age. They wore what Sora would have worn if life hadn't taken him down a very different path- traditional school uniforms.
"Look out!" Sora thrust his companions onto the nearby sidewalk as a car sped by, nearly hitting the trio.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Donald shook his fists and quacked angrily at the retreating car.
Before Sora could fully get his bearings, something slammed into his side. Stunned, his first thought was that he had been hit by a car and that this was the end. Bye bye. Sayonara. But it wasn't.
Instead, a teenage girl in her school's uniform of a white blouse and navy vest with matching skirt and red bow tie slowly picked herself up. Her brown hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, showcasing her wide chocolate brown eyes.
"Oww… Oh, I'm so sorry but I gotta go. Oh no, not again!" With a quick head nod, she began to run towards a large building just as a chorus of meows filled the air. Whipping around, the new arrivals saw a veritable parade of cats. Cats of every size and color. And they were all following the girl.
"Uh oh." Goofy exclaimed. And Sora saw why. Some of the cats weren't very natural looking. In fact, the seemed to be made of floating green and yellow blocks and had swirling eyes. Which could only mean-
"Heartless!" The trio raced after, just as the girl entered the building and slowed down. She was forced to cower against a wall of lockers as she was surrounded both by the creatures that had followed her and by other, smaller mice-like creatures pouring from her opened locker. Sora jumped in front of her, Donald and Goofy quickly followed suit.
"Don't worry, miss! We got this!" Sora gestured with both hands, causing an enormous key to appear. The girl gawped at this blade- silver with a key ending and a handle of yellow and blue with a small silver chain at the end of which was a strange emblem made of three circles.
Sora and his friends made quick work of the foes, causing them to vanish in a shower of stars and coins. The girl stiffened as the strange friends turned to her.
"Uh, are you alright?" Asked the tall, green wearing- dog man? She nodded numbly.
"Um, well hi there! I'm Sora, this is Donald" he gestured to the duck who nodded vigorously "and that's Goofy."
"Ah, uh, I-" the girl squeaked, looking incapable of words. "I'm-"
"Haru Yoshioka, I see you out there, I know you're late again!" An older male voice rang through the hallway. She stood ramrod straight. "Sorry sensei!"
She paused. "Uh- That…That was awesome!" She whispered in a strangled voice before hurrying away, leaving the three heroes staring blankly after her.
"Well, now what?" As Donald shrugged, Goofy had a suggestion. "Maybe we oughta keep an eye on Haru. Seems like them Heartless are after her."
"Good point. But won't they notice us?" Sora gestured to the students and teachers around them
"Leave that to me." Donald smirked. "My magic can help us blend in, remember?"
Sora recalled his merboy form in Atlantica. "Well, I guess, but-"
"Nuh-uh, no buts!" With that, the wizard's hat on Donald's staff flashed. And whatever he did must have worked because for the next six hours, no one else seemed to notice them even though Sora couldn't see any changes to himself or his friends.
Hi everyone! Here is yet another plot bunny that won't stop bothering me. But don't worry, I've mostly finished writing this one so it should be done in a timely manner. I hope you enjoy this little work and please feel free to leave reviews!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings from either Kingdom Hearts (Disney/Square) or The Cat Returns (Studio Ghibli). I only own the idea of combining the two worlds (and a massive amount of student debt).