Heart of Akasha

A/N: Just a quick notice beforehand: I've created a Forum to talk about stuff regarding Heart of Akasha. You might want to check it out, though this is all rather new for me so please excuse any faults for now.

Chapter 4: Co-op Mode

"So, this is the place…" mused Ji-Han as he read the sign over the entrance door:

{Wagnaria. Coffee and Restaurant}

Truth be told, if it weren't for the colorful sign with the fork and spoon, he would have thought it to be just a gym from some school… which probably meant that the building had been a gym before, if he thought back on Traverse Town's "hospital".

"Yeah, this is it", confirmed Yato. "Best place to hang out you have nothing else to do. So, perfect place for you to find your new comrades!"

Ji-Han nodded. As soon as Zelretch had left, he had called for Yato. Foregoing any thoughts of leveling or training for the moment, he had let him deal with all the enemies, while they went to go to a place where he could find new companions. Yato had suggested Wagnaria, a restaurant at the border between the Urban and the Traditional District. It was also near the most popular inn called Konohanatei, meaning he could ask there next.

"Thanks for bringing me here", Ji-Han told the god who just nodded.

"Don't worry about it. It is the job of a god to fulfill the wishes of his followers!" Ji-Han chuckled.

"Right", he said as he went into the restaurant, followed by Yato who had no other wishes to fulfill at the moment.

The inside showed a lot more that this was indeed just a repurposed gym, as it had the typical gym floor with white lines for the different sports. The wooden tables were either small with a single support in the center of the square tabletop or longer with the support going in a straight line from one of the shorter sides of the table to another. The seats were easily to move wooden chairs with magenta padding or, more rarely, smaller benches, also with magenta padding. In between the tables were waist-high paper walls to ensure a bit of privacy, but allowed the staff to notice anyone raising their hand.

[-Wagnaria Manager-
Lv38 Takahashi, Souta]

[-Wagnaria Employee-
Lv8 Hayase, Makiko]

[-Wagnaria Employee-
Lv32 Takahashi, Mahiru]

Speaking of the staff, there was a young man called [Takanashi, Souta] with light brown hair and brown eyes framed by round glasses in a white shirt and dark blue trousers as well as a bowtie of the same color. He stood behind a counter with some stools in front of it, similar to a bar while behind him, from the open emergency exit of the gym, came a young woman called [Hayase, Makiko]. She had also brown hair, but opposite to Souta, hers was darker and flowed down all the way to her behind. She wore the same white shirt and a dark blue bow tie, but hers was a bit less formal and more cutesy. She also wore a skirt instead of trousers and a beige frilled apron.

The last member of the staff, [Takahashi, Mahiru], wore the same female uniform like Makiko but had shoulder-length orange hair and orange… no, pinkish eyes and was currently walking past Ji-Han to the emergency exit with an empty tray.

"Welcome", she greeted Ji-Han as she noticed him. "Please take a seat, we'll be with you shortly."

"Ah, no", refuted Ji-Han. "Maybe later, but now I have still some business to do."

"Business?" She repeated and Ji-Han nodded.

"Do you have a problem if I do some sort of announcement? I am looking for guys for a job and it would be easier than just asking everyone on their own."

"You have to ask Souta for that", she explained uncomfortably. "I don't think he will have a problem with that."

Mahiru let him to the counter and quickly went through the emergency exit. But before Ji-Han had the chance to speak with the manager, the person sitting on one of the stools next to the counter addressed him:

"Hello, I haven't seen you around here, are you new?"

The man was one of the people with only question marks. And his appearance also wasn't something you'd see often. He had waist-length green hair with two bangs falling down the middle of his forehead, going in between his eyes and then splitting past his nose, one going right, the other going left. Speaking of the eyes, they were blue but had a darker ripple around the people, giving them a supernatural flair. Also rather striking were his dark, full lips.

He wore something like a black raincoat but with the hood not pulled up and instead simply let down falling on his back.

"Yeah, I've just came to Traverse Town, making the man nod solemnly.

"My condolences", he said as he took out a card from the inside of his raincoat. "If you want to mourn properly, give me a call."

Ji-Han took the card reading its contents:

{Raiga's Funerals

-Kurosuki Raiga-

Because mourning is the first step to acceptance.}

"Thanks", responded Ji-Han. "But I am not giving up just yet. I will find a way to restore my and all the worlds!"

"Do you know how to?" Asked Raiga skeptically. "Hope can easily turn into despair if it stays unfulfilled. And it is better to accept loss surrounded by people to help you than to hold it all in until you can't stand it anymore when you will be alone against the Heartless."

"I have ideas", explained Ji-Han, making Raiga's eyebrow rise up. "The real problem is more that I need to find the right place. And for that I am currently recruiting. You wouldn't be up for an adventure through the multiverse?"

Raiga laughed.

"I am a bit too old to travel around worlds like that. No, I'd rather stay here, watching Ranmaru grow up. I'll be fine in any world as long as he's taken care of."

Figures. It would have been too easy to get such a powerful ally.

"Ehm, excuse me, Souta-Ssi", he thus addressed the manager. "Do you mind if I do an announcement? I want to find people joining me on my journey and it would be easier, if I can just ask everyone at once."

"I don't mind", Takahashi told him. "But why don't you just go to Hitoyoshi-san and put it up as a job? You should find people that way easier."

"He made a bet with Zelretch", supplied Yato before Ji-Han could say something, making Takahashi and Raiga both choke on their own spit. It seems, his personality was pretty well-known, after all.

"I know it sounds stupid", acknowledged Ji-Han before either of the two could say something, "but if I can't take the risk of some embarrassment, how can I risk my life?"

"That's one way to look at it", noted Raiga while Souta shook his head.

"I don't know what you bet on, but if I were you, I would do everything in my power to win", he exclaimed and Ji-Han nodded.

"I'll get to it." With that he turned around and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, everyone", he addressed the people in the room loudly, "I am sorry to interrupt you, but I would like to take a minute of your time."

While he waited for everyone's attention to settle on him, he looked over the people in the restaurant, especially some noteworthy people.

[-Tera Guardian Princess-
Lv? Kuro]

A short girl with long, reddish-brown hair with a long cowlick. She wore a light brown and baggy hoodie, as well as a red dog color around her neck and bandages wrapped around her hands. While she turned her attention to Ji-Han, he could see a dog steal something out of her ramen bowl.

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

Next to Kuro was a young woman with brown hair going all the way to hair waist and two cowlick on top of her head. She wore a green sweater and an orange skirt and looked generally like a normal person. In fact, Ji-Han only noticed her thanks to her being next to Kuro and having the child-like level of [1].

[ˀ?ˀ
Lv? Asteria, Rena]

[-Enastoria Empress-
Lv22 Asteria, Yuinshiel]

The next pair of people together, seemed to be related in some way but Ji-Han wouldn't have been able to tell at a glance.

They were both young girls, but that was where the similarities ended. The first one was around grade-schooler age, while the second seemed to of middle-school age or around the earlier years of high school. The first one had grayish-purple hair braided into two short twin-tails framing her head, while the second had long golden-blond hair flowing in multiple fluid strands to her waist. The first had purple eyes, the second blue. The first wore a small bleach-purple dress with a purple pullover and something like a light pink blanket with a hood around her shoulders, tied in front of her chest with a yellow bow. The second wore a brown school uniform that emphasized her breasts with a blue skirt and a black tie. The second also had a sheathed katana next to her, while the first was weaponless.

And then there was the fact that with the second, he could see level and title, but with the first he couldn't. They really didn't seem like relatives, but his ability said they both had the same last name. And besides, if they were related or not wasn't his business.

The third pair… where they all gathered in pairs? No, over there was a group of four.

The third pair only caught his eye, because he couldn't tell what the title meant:

[Shinra Banshou
-Okonomiyaki Stand Owner-
Lv39 Rokujou, Miharu]

[-Occult Academy Headmistress-
Lv18 Kumashiro, Maya]

What the hell was a Shinra Banshou? And besides having a rather androgynous appearance, there wasn't really anything special about this young adult. Short black hair, green eyes, a blank expression and a simple white hoodie and blue jeans.

The woman beside him had a lot more exotic choice of clothing, a white figure-hugging dress which went only so far as to cover her behind and left her arms bare, long black thigh-highs that only left an inch of skin uncovered and white heels, as well as a white headband on top of her long and smooth black her. She had frowned when she met Ji-Han's eyes and he had quickly looked away.

Since the other people were too far away to make out their levels and names, there was only more pair of interest. Or at last, what he had assumed to be a pair since his ability had given him two labels.

[Claw of Balance
Lv38 Izumi, Shinichi]

[-Living Weapon-
Lv? Migi]

But he could only see one person, Izumi Shinichi, a man with short brown hair and eyes of the same color, as well as a scar above his right eye who wore a white shirt with some Japanese symbols on them and black trousers. He couldn't see Migi, even though the label was directly over Shinichi's right hand… wait. Was his right hand Migi?! He had a living weapon as a right hand?! That was… probably not that special considering all the other people in Traverse Town. He certainly wouldn't say no to someone strong as that becoming his party member.

Speaking of…

Ji-Han coughed again and then began to talk to the people:

"Hello, my name is Han Ji-Han. I have just recently come to Traverse Town when my world was devoured by the Heartless. However, shortly afterwards I have become a member of the Hero Union with the mission to restore all the worlds who had been devoured and prevent any more worlds from being taken by the Heartless. For that I am going to travel from world to world using this Keyblade…", and with that he held out his hand to summon his Keyblade, earning him a round of gasps and shouts of surprise that would have made him a liar if he had to say that those hadn't made him happy, "…to close the keyhole of the world to prevent any more Heartless from reaching its heart to devour it. All of that with the ultimate goal to find information on where the stolen hearts of the worlds have gone to and take them back!

But I won't be able to do it alone. Even with the Keyblade I am just a single guy who is still starting to figure out his abilities. Thus I am looking for comrades who are willing to leave Traverse Town and accompany me on my quest, fighting Heartless and saving worlds! It will be dangerous, I am not going to lie and the Heartless will try to stop us, but if you believe, like me, that the rewards are worth the risk, then I welcome you aboard. Thank you. That is all."

With that Ji-Han fell silent and looked over the people, studying their reactions. Now, would there be someone willing to help him?

Kuro glanced over to her level-1-friend with worry in her eyes. She probably didn't want to leave her behind then. The same happened with the two Asteria girls who were exchanging conflicted gazes with each other. The Right-Hand Guy was trying and failing to hide the fact that he was talking to his hand while the Fancy-Dress Woman was giving him the stink-eye, as if just suggesting such a thing was already something despicable. Thus he quickly switched over to her companion, who, meeting his eyes, just shrugged apologetic.

"I am sorry", he told Ji-Han loudly. "But I can't let my Okonomiyaki Stand unattended for that long." Maya just snorted derogatory.

"It's not like anyone actually need to eat anything in this forsaken place", she proclaimed, making Ji-Han stare at her in surprise.

"You don't?" He inquired and Yato nodded.

"Traverse Town has some kind of background-radiation and dark matter that gives most organism all they need to survive. You don't even need to breath. Some people actually prefer not eating because it means they won't need to go to the toilet."

"But that is just surviving", proclaimed Souta. "Eating is not just a means to survive, it is also part of most cultures. So while you don't need to eat, many still do it because they enjoy it."

Huh. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't gotten hungry so far. Was that the reason for it?

"That aside", decided Ji-Han, before again addressing the crowd, "find me, if you want to join me and don't hesitate to spread the word."

Looks like this one was a bust. Maybe he had more luck in the Konohanatei.

"I am sorry we can't help you", Yuinshiel, who had stood up and approached him without his notice spoke to him, her little relative clinging to her hand. "But if you are looking for people, why don't you ask Sasamori-san for help? She has a special talent in finding suitable people."

Sasamori? He thought, he heard that name before… wait, finding people? Oh, she was the girl Hitomi had talked about, the one with the Iris!

"Right, she would be able to help, wouldn't she?" Ji-Han exclaimed exited. "Thanks for the tip! She lives at Chie's Apartment Building, didn't she? Yato-Nim, can you escort me there next? For 50 Munny, of course."

"Sure."

"Alright, but since I'm already here, I'll still go to the Konohanatei first. Hopefully you won't be away on a different job when I am done…"

"I can take care of that", suggested Shinichi, who also had made his way over to him. "I may not be able to help you on your quest, but I can at last spread the word."

"Really? Thanks, that'll take at last some pressure off me. [Status Window]."

Ji-Han opened the Status Window and tipped on the Munny-icon, opening a panel where he could use arrows above and below each digit, to decide how much Munny he wanted to take out, 50 in this case.

"Here, Yato-Nim, please escort me to Chie's Apartment Building."

"Your wish… ", Yato said as he took the orb, flicked it into the air and caught it, before holding it between the index and middle finger of a peace sign near his head just like the two time before, "has been heard loud and clear!"


"Sasamori-Ssi?" Ji-Han spoke as he knocked on her door of a small apartment building. "Are you there? I need your help."

He heard some rustling inside and soon enough, the door opened, revealing a teenage girl in a brown school uniform with an orange skirt and black highs reaching over her knee. She had orange hair and pinkish-eyes similar to Takahashi Mahiru he had seen earlier, but her hair was longer, reaching past her shoulders and was tied up with a red ribbon on each side.

Naturally, Ji-Han knew that he had found the right person as soon as she appeared, since he was able to see her name floating above her head:

[Eyes of Qualification
-Student Body President-
Lv3 Sasamori, Koyuki]

"Hello!" She greeted enthusiastically. "I am Sasamori Koyuki. How can I help?"

"Hello, I am Han Ji-Han. I am looking for people to accompany me on my journey. And people told me that you are the best person to find them."

"I can tell if someone is qualified for a task if I see them", Sasamori explained happily. "So if I stand in a place where there are many people coming through, I have a high chance of finding someone suitable."

Ah, that's right. To see if someone was qualified, she first had to see the person. She wasn't just a radar that could find his new teammates on command.

"Right, so if you can keep an eye out for people who would be suited to help Han Ji-Han on his quest to restore all the worlds, I would be really grateful to you."

"I will do that", she promised, but took on an unsure expression afterwards, "…but it could be that I am suited for that. Since I see the qualification of a person as an {O} or {X} above their head, I can never tell, whether I myself am qualified or not."

"Huh, so your ability doesn't work on mirrors?"

"I am sorry."

"Don't be. You shouldn't need your Iris to decide, whether you want to come with me or not. And while I would be glad for any new party member, I will get into fights with Heartless. And you don't seem like you'd want to do that."

"You aren't really fighting material", added Yato and Ji-Han agreed. It was comparatively rare to see someone with such a low level in Traverse Town.

"But there is still something else I can do!" Koyuki proclaimed, grabbed Ji-Han's hand and dragged him to the door two apartments over. There she let go of him and knocked.

"Nara-kun?" She spoke to the door. "Are you there? Can you help me with something?"

"Again?!" Came the annoyed voice of a boy through the door. "What do you want?! You haven't even seen my head yet!"

"That is because I know Nara-kun will always be able to help me", she exclaimed cheerily, making the boy on the other side sigh.

"Past instances have proven that she will not back down until you give in", proclaimed the voice of a woman from inside the room. "It would take less effort on your part to just help her out."

Nara muttered something unintelligible, before calling out:

"Then come in, the door's open."

Koyuki opened the door and Ji-Han followed her inside.

The apartment was rather small, with a bathroom and a small living room with only a single table and a kitchenette along the wall on the side. On the table was a chessboard and on the white side sat a teenage boy while on the black side sat a young woman.

The woman had violet eyes and hair of the same color styled into a single bun and wore a black business-suit. Her eyes were underlined by a pair of stylish glasses with a purple frame only on the lower side.

[Chess Genius
Lv12 Sumeragi, Shion]

But it was the boy that made Ji-Han pause. Narrow brown eyes and black hair styled into a short spiky ponytail, wearing black trousers as well as a green vest with many, many pockets, gave him a distinct look that wasn't easy to forget once you had seen it.

And that was exactly the problem. Ji-Han knew that person. He had seen him in his own world. Not in person though, just in a Japanese anime of his own world. What's more, not only was his appearance the same, but also the name and other information checked out with what he knew of that supposedly fictional person:

[Lazy Genius
-Konohagakure Genin-
Lv42 Nara, Shikamaru]

"Nara Shikamaru", exclaimed Ji-Han in shock, not believing his eyes. What the heck?! That just couldn't be! How could he just meet a person he knew from a movie in Traverse Town?!

Shikamaru, noticing his confusing, just sighed.

"Great", he muttered, "here we go again."

Then he addressed Ji-Han directly:

"Yes, I am Nara Shikamaru. Yes, I am a ninja of Konohagakure. Yes, I manipulate shadows. And yes, I am real. It's all because of the windows. And before you ask, windows are when people in one world manage to get glimpses of other worlds. But since not everybody knows of those different worlds, for them those glimpses are just a product of their imagination, which they sometimes turn into movies, books or games. Any more questions?"

Ji-Han was stunned.

"Do you get those questions often?" He asked and Shikamaru nodded.

"For some reason my world is really photogenic. It's such a drag, I tell you."

"My condolences", Ji-Han spoke but Shikamaru waved it away.

"It's not your fault", he declared. "Just don't get chummy with me just because you know things about me. In fact, don't mention anything regarding me or my future. I've already gotten all the important information regarding Sasuke, Naruto, Orochimaru, Akatsuki, Madara and Kaguya and I don't need anyone trying to set me up with one or more girls I haven't even heard about."

"I won't", promised Ji-Han. "If it's any consolation, I can see the names of most people flying on top of their head."

"You have an Iris?!" Exclaimed Koyuki enthusiastically and Ji-Han nodded.

"In a sense", noted Ji-Han. "I can't make things happen with my eyes but I do have some more abilities not connected to my Iris. Still, I do have that constant information flying around only I can see and was actually planning on talking to you about it if you wanted. But I didn't say anything for now since I am still busy at the moment."

"Right", voiced Shikamaru, "and what is Koyuki-san supposed to help you with this time?"

"This time?" Repeated Ji-Han confused. "This is the first time I did that."

"For now", proclaimed Shikamaru. "But you guys always go and ask her to help with your stuff. And then she goes to me, asking me to help, it's such a drag! Can't you put up mission requests like any normal person?!"

"I could", admitted Ji-Han, unsure what to say. On the one hand, he wanted to push, but on the other hand, Shikamaru was kind of right. "…maybe I've gotten too used to people helping me out just because I asked them… even Yato-Nim only takes 50 Munny and I have still over 2000…"

"That's not true", refuted Koyuki strongly. "We all have lost nearly everything when our words were destroyed. We do not want to lose anything else. That is why everyone is always helping each other. Even Nara-kun, who always says he doesn't like it, helps me out in the end, because he is really a nice person!"

"Damn it, woman", cursed Shikamaru. "Stop pushing your expectations onto others already."

Shion, who had been quiet for the whole time they had been here, laughed lightly.

"Are you sure you don't want to support her?" She asked. "Past instances have shown that such a reaction would weigh heavily on your conscience."

"Oh, shut up, siscon", mumbled Shikamaru but Shion didn't hear him, or at last pretended not to hear him.

"I could pay you, if that makes you feel better", suggested Ji-Han. "Or owe you one. I am still trying to figure out all my abilities, but once I do, you should be able to find a good way to use them."

"Alright, fine", Shikamaru finally gave in. "Let's go with the favor and get this over with. So, what kind of people are you looking for?"

"People to accompany me on my journey through the multiverse, fighting Heartless and saving worlds."

"Damn, that's actually a tall order", noted Shikamaru. "If we cut out the civilians who can't fight, most people already have built their life in Traverse Town or want to protect the other people living in it. And Noelle became a member of the TSAB, she can't leave. Have you asked Genos from the Hero Union to see if he could find some people willing to go?"

"Ehehe", laughed Ji-Han awkwardly, "unfortunately, I became a member, too and now none of them can't help me directly like that anymore…"

"Seriously?! What a drag… there is one guy who just recently got to Traverse Town but he doesn't trust anyone, and another who always complains about his job but he is an asshole."

"Shikamaru", Shion chastised him, "you shouldn't use such words when describing a person. Even if it is true."

"That aside, I would say your best bet would be finding a willing civilian and train them for a bit… though there is still one other option if… do your comrades have to be human?"

"Not that I know of", responded Ji-Han. "Why?"

"Then you could always try Count D's Pet Shop."

"That could actually work", confirmed Yato. "Even though D calls them pets, only half of them are actually animals and monsters. The other half are beings with inhuman features but still human intelligence like yokai and demons. As long as they have some form of pet-like natural obedience-instinct, he still calls them pets and sells them."

"The only real problem would be the price", added Shikamaru. "But if you word your request precisely, you would get one who is perfect for your journey."

That sounded like he should try Count D's Pet Shop next. At last he could see how expensive the pets of his were. Would he take a potion as payment? Though he should still have enough time to sell it, if he didn't.

"Were is Count D's Pet Shop?" He thus asked and promptly got the answer from Yato:

"In the Shopping Arcade. Do you want me to escort you there?"

"[Status Window]." Ji-Han took out 50 Munny and gave them Yato.

"Please do."

"Your wish… has been heard loud and clear!"

"I'll come with you", decided Koyuki. "We might come across some people out shopping that would be qualified."

"If you want to, I have certainly no reason to stop you", exclaimed Ji-Han, then he turned to Shikamaru.

"Thank you for your help", he told the ninja but that guy just waved it off.

"Whatever. Just try not to bother other people too much." Ji-Han laughed sheepishly.

"I'll try."

With that he, Yato and Koyuki left the two chess players to their own devices and went towards the Shopping Arcade.

On the way, Ji-Han told Koyuki about his Gamer-abilities, how he thought he first had been hallucinating and how unease he had felt when he didn't know if his friends and family were hiding things from him. In exchange Koyuki told Ji-Han about how she always found the next Student Body President with her Iris, until she became it herself and how she was actually a bit jealous of people who could see the world as it is without any filters. That led to a discussion with Yato about whether Irises did show things that weren't there, or if they actually just showed information that were there but the human eye usually couldn't see like x-ray or infrared-vision.

"Oh, we are here", interrupted Yato their discussion. "Welcome to the Shopping Arcade."

The Shopping Arcade looked like a small, two-car-wide gap between two rows of small shops with a ceiling that was added later on and supported by rectangular columns in front of the shops with slightly-angled glass windows in the middle. In between the two sides hang a long chain of square flag-like paper, going in zigzag from one side to the other. Close to the entrance also hang a giant tuna fish in the air and further an electronic chandelier. But he wasn't lit and instead the light came from the oil and lacrima lanterns typical for Traverse Town as well as the jobs themselves.

As they walked down the alley, Ji-Han noticed that there weren't that many shops to begin with. From the symbols on the plates hanging near them, he could find a bookstore, some food stand, a gun shop, a clothing store and… what was that cartoonish knight on a red dragon supposed to be? Oh, wait, never mind, it said "LEON" in Latin letters below it. And then there was this traditional looking store inside the urban shopping district, making it completely out of place but without any sign revealing what kind of shop it was.

"That's Count D's Pet Shop", explained Yato. "Hopefully you'll find a good companion. I'll have to go for now, I've got a new job."

"Alright", responded Ji-Han, "goodbye. I'll call you then, when I need you again."

"Goodbye."

With that Yato left and Ji-Han turned to Koyuki:

"What do you want to do while I talk to D?"

"I want to play a bit with the animals", she said. "Do you think he'll allow it?"

"It can't hurt to ask."

And so they went inside and were greeted by the noises of many animals. Bird chirping, dogs barking, cats meowing and many more different sounds. But there weren't just mundane animals. There were snakes, small horses and wild cats, to only name a few. And in mitten all the animals inside and outside the cages stood a person, as if they had already been waiting for them.

They were tall and had an androgynous appearance with black Chinese robes decorated with an elaborate flower motive. They had claw-like fingernails and smooth black hair reaching to the chin all around except for most of the left and a small part of the right side of the face. It nearly hit the right yellow eye contrasting with the purple left one. The person also had only question marks above their head, but that made it actually more convincing that he was the owner D, as Yato had named him as one of the two people who he wasn't sure if they were gods or not.

"Welcome to Count D's Pet Shop", the person who was probably D greeted them. "In this store you may find everything. From domestic dogs and cats… to maniac beasts and all those that fall in between."

"Ah, hello", Ji-Han greeted back. "I am in need for a… 'Pet'. She is just accompanying me for now, but would like to play with the animals while we look for a pet, if that is alright?"

"That is no problem", responded D. "All the pets here are well-raised. What kind of pet are you looking for?"

"To be honest", began Ji-Han while Koyuki went to play, "even though I said 'Pet' I am more looking for a companion. Someone to accompany me on my journey to fight the Heartless. So it should be someone able to hold their own in a battle or at last not easily harmed. They should also have human-like intelligence and able to make suggestions and stop me from doing something too stupid. They also shouldn't need any special food that is difficult to get as I am going to travel a lot. And they should be able to work in a team. So, like, not constantly trying to fight their teammates and stuff... yeah, that's all I can think of for now."

"I see", noted D thoughtfully, "if I may inquire further, where would these travels take you?"

"Anywhere it takes me, I guess", answered Ji-Han. "I mean, my goal is to travel from world to world and save them from the Heartless until I find out where the Central Keyhole and the stolen hearts of the devoured worlds are. So, it can be literally anywhere."

"How would you go about saving the worlds from the Heartless? No matter how great your abilities, one can only temporarily stall the Heartless and never defeat them. Unless… are you perhaps in possession of a Keyblade."

"Yes", Ji-Han confirmed and summoned his Keyblade. "With that I cannot only defeat Heartless, but also close the keyholes of the words, preventing any future Heartless from getting to that world's heart. But I don't think I can do that all on my own, which is why I am looking for comrades to help me out."

"That changes things", proclaimed D. "Instead of buying a pet, would you perhaps be willing to do me a favor?"

"A favor?"

"Indeed. You see, not long ago I have come across a specific specimen. But unlike the other pets in my possession, this one does not come from a world that has been devoured by the Heartless. Instead it has been smuggled out of its home world as an egg. Unfortunately, I have yet not been able to locate its home world and thus I have hatched and raised it in Traverse Town.

As your plan is to travel from place to place, I would like you to take it with you, until you find its home. It would not be as sturdy as other pets I have in my possession but it works well with humans."

PING!

{A quest has been created.}

{Quest Alert

Home Sweet Home: Shua

It is always nicest at home.

Find Shua's home world or one with native Smeargles in it.

Bonus Objective:
?

Completion Award: +5 000 000 EXP.
Increased reputation with Shua.
Increased reputation with the Pet Shop Owner "D".

Bonus Award:
?

Completion Failure: +100 000 EXP.
Decreased reputation with Shua and the Pet Shop Owner "D", depending on circumstances of failure.
Shua's resignation from the party depending on reputation with "D".}

A temporary companion… why not? It wasn't what he had thought of when visiting a pet shop, but it would get him another companion without losing Munny or his potion. And it's not like any other companion couldn't leave the party at any time for any number of reasons.

"Alright", decided Ji-Han, closing the quest alert. "I'll take Shua with me."

"Shua?" D repeated. "I wasn't aware that I had already told you the name of the specimen I wanted you to look after."

"Ah, sorry, it's my ability", Ji-Han explained sheepishly. "I experience the world like in a video game so any task I get, gets transformed into a quest. And the quest was called {Home Sweet Home: Shua} and had the completion condition of bringing Shua to his home world or at last a world that has native Smeargles in it… not that I know what Smeargles are. But I guess that I'll see it once you show it to me."

"Is that so… than please follow me."

"Yes. I'll be right back, Koyuki-Seonbae."

"See you soon."

Ji-Han followed D through the door behind him. There were stairs leading up, then leading down and then they were in a maze of staircases leading into any direction. And all over the place he could see, not actual animals, but human-looking beings, some with question marks above their heads, some with clearly-readable names.

And then there were mythological beings like a gryphon or a bipedal dragon and humanoid demonic-looking beings with backwards horns and glowing red eyes. There was a little fairy with yellow hair, green wings and a green dress and three little child-sized humans with cat ears, tail and different dresses, one of them even wearing a school uniform. And then there were the things Ji-Han had no idea what they were. Like a white humanoid being the size of the cat humans with a big round head, a goofy expression and a giant yellow drill as the nose or something resembling a car-sized lump of white flesh with stubby legs and a thin wide mouth with teeth protruding out of it in an irregular fashion even closed.

Those and many other creatures were what Ji-Han saw on his way to Shua. And when they finally met it, he also couldn't tell what it was.

Shua was something, one could maybe compare to a white dog with floppy brown ears, if they were generous. But it stood upright on two legs with three toes and brown fur around the angles. Its hands also had only three digits, but they were arranged more like a human hand than a dog's paw with two rings of brown fur around the wrists on each side. One of the hands was furthermore used to hold onto its own tail, which was thin like a cat's, but twice as long and ended in a freaking paint brush with an indigo tip! It had also a brown fur collar around the neck, rings of brown fur around its eyes and the fur on top of its head made it look like it had a white painter's hat on.

[Lv4 Shua]

So, that was a Smeargle. Definitively not what he had expected.

"Hello, Shua", greeted D his pet. "I have brought a guest to you."

"Smeargle?" Voiced the Smeargle… wait.

"He has agreed to take you with him on his journey from world to world until you stumble upon a world where you can find other Smeargle."

"Smeargle, smear?"

"Yes. Depending on how good your journey goes, we might not see each other again. But Traverse Town is not the right place for you."

"…smear…"

"Ehm, sorry to interrupt", exclaimed Ji-Han, "but considering that he can only speak in his species name… does that mean he's a Pokémon?"

"Yes, Shua is indeed a Pokémon", confirmed D. "You knew about Pokémon, yet did not know Smeargles belonged to them?"

"They are constantly new ones, how am I supposed to remember all of them?!" Ji-Han refuted. "I also don't play console games."

"Is that so? Nevertheless, what kind of animal it is, does not matter, only that you will know when you have found its home world."

"Right." Ji-Han nodded and knelt down to get on eye-level with the Smeargle.

"Hello, Shua, I am Han Ji-Han. D has asked me to help you find your home world. On the way we will have to fight a lot of Heartless. Are you up for it?!"

"Smear!"

"Alright! Thank you for your help." The last part Ji-Han addressed to D who shook his head.

"I should thank you, since you are the one who will take care of Shua, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"Then I bid you farewell."

And suddenly Ji-Han found himself outside in front of the building, together with Koyuki and Shua.

"Ah, hello Ji-Han", greeted the girl. "So this is Shua? He's so cute!" She started to pet it and Shua let that happen, enjoying the attention just like a dog would.

Alright. That's number one. He wished he could see how the quest progressed…

"[Quest Log]!"

At once another panel opened in front of him, showing all the quests in a list:

{Active
True Companions: Your Merry Band of Misfits
Home Sweet Home: Shua
Buying in Bulk: 20 Lucid Shards
Central Keyhole: The One Keyhole to Close them All
World Graveyard: The Hearts of Lost Worlds
Available
Unknown Frontier: Mountains in the Dayless Town
Hiatus
Homework: EXP Equals MC Screwed
Homework: Written by the Victors
Completed
Homework: Does Everybody Hate Math?}

And next to {True Companions: Your Merry Band of Misfits} was a black hourglass on a green background, which, if he tipped on it, opened another panel showing {3:46:44} and counting downwards. So that was how much time he still had. He still had over half the time, but on the other hand one he still needed to get at last one more companion and it had taken two hours to get this one, the easiest one.

He would have liked to see what kind of abilities Shua had, but that to wait for now. He couldn't take the time.

"I've called Yato-Nim", he told Koyuki. "Do you want to look a little bit more around or do you want to go back to your apartment?"

"I'll go with you for now", she told him. "I still haven't found a single person suitable for your quest!"

"You brought me to Shikamaru-Ssi", Ji-Han reminded her. "And thanks to that I have now my first companion, Shua. So you can't say you haven't helped."

"But one companion won't be enough, would it?" She proclaimed and Ji-Han had to agree. Though, did she know about the bet, yet? He couldn't remember if he had mentioned it in front of her…

"Heartless!" Someone suddenly cried out and the people began rushing into the shops. Not in a panic, but in a more orderly manner. As if they were used to it. Which they probably were. And since they instantly went into the shops… did that mean that all the shopkeepers here were badass fighters who could easily deal with any Heartless? No wonder the people shopping were all to calm about it.

However, Koyuki ripped him out of his thoughts by pulling on his sleeve.

"We have to go!" She told him but he shook his head. Defeating Heartless was pretty much his new job. And since Yato wasn't here, yet… But Koyuki was a different question, wasn't she? She was just Lv3 and he wasn't strong enough to defeat the Heartless and protect another person.

"Go inside", he told her. "I can do this."

"…Alright", she agreed, even if only after a moment of hesitation.

"So, Shua", he addressed the Pokémon. "Ready to show your stuff?"

"Smear!"

"Good. Now… where are they…" But as soon as he said that, they had already arrived. And they were two… Shadows…

"That's all?" He was actually a bit disappointed. From all the commotion, he had expected a lot more. No, better safe than sorry. And there could always be some who show up later.

"Smear!"

They ran towards the Shadows and Shua swung his tail in his hand towards a Shadow, creating an image of a claw that attacked the first Shadow.

"[Power Strike]!" Ji-Han instantly took down the other heartless with one strike so that he could see how good Shua was in a fight.

"[Observe]!"

{Name: Shua
Class: none
Title: none
Level: Lv4

HP: 500/500
MP: 125/125}

PING!

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

'Now isn't that convenient timing', thought Ji-Han as the brown panel changed:

{Name: Shua
Class: none
Title: none
Level: Lv4

HP: 500/500
MP: 125/125
STR: 5 VIT: 8 DEX: 18
INT: 2 WIS: 4 LUK: 5}

Oh, now he could see the actual stats. And while they weren't that good generally, Shua's Dexterity and HP were higher than his!

Even though the HP got suddenly reduced to {492}, as it got hit by an attack from the Heartless that Shua hadn't avoided because he was busy attacking.

"Run circles around the enemy and attack its back", called out Ji-Han. "Even with your high HP, that's no reason to get careless!"

Shua did as he was told and with three more attacks, the Heartless was finished. And that without any more HP lost. And there didn't seem to be any more Heartless coming. Which was a bit of a surprise, really. Usually there would be at last four Heartless showing up in a batch. But two simple Shadows?

"Did you defeat the Heartless already?" A guy around Ji-Han's age had appeared next to him and asked this question.

The person had green eyes and black hair that was neck-length on his back and went down to his nose on the front in multiple spike-like strands of hair, with smaller strands over his eyes to keep his vision free. He wore black trousers and a white shirt with a blue tie, which had been tucked under a black sleeve-less vest fitting to the trousers. In his right hand he held a straight long sword, with a shiny blade. And atop his head floated those words:

[Unneeded Hero
-Leon Shop Manager-
Lv52 Chaser, Raul]

And he had the highest level of any person that he read so far. This made Ji-Han wonder, if it was possible that he could only read the level of people not more than 50 levels higher than him? It would be more likely than any person he couldn't see the level to be already over level 100. It could theoretical happen, but it was still a matter of probability. Did he really not met any person with levels between 60 and 100 before? In Traverse Town where they were so many different people from different worlds? Not likely.

Nevertheless, even if he got new information on his ability, he had still been asked a question.

"Yes", he thus answered. "We took them down. It had only been two Shadows though, is that normal inside the Shopping Arcade? Outside we generally got them in groups of four to six."

"Hm, that does seem a bit low", noted Raul. "We'll have to investigate it. Chances in the behavior of Heartless generally mean something is going to happen. Even if I can only really base that on the increased activity when the Guard Armor is going to show up. I have yet to see decreased activity. That might mean that something big is coming."

"Sorry, to disappoint you", another voice called out, "but those were just my merchandise that has run away."

The person in question was a guy around Ji-Han's age, or maybe slightly older with black hair and green eyes, just like Raul next to him. His hair also went as far as Raul's, but it was a lot more unruly being all over the place, standing up at some points and had even two strands of her crossing in between his eyes. His clothing also was a lot more wild, some kind of leather armor with a metal breastplate and green trousers, decorated with leather plates on his thigh, surrounded by white fur. Rings of white fur were also present where his leather boots met his trousers and around his neck, where it acted as a collar to which a long and wide green mantle. And as if to contrast him with Raul even more, he had no weapon in his right hand, but a small and simple metal shield with a green orb in its center.

Ji-Han was tempted to ask, if they were somehow related but since he could actually see the names on top of their heads, that was a moot point. Yet for some reason, the newcomer was also a hero:

[Disillusioned Hero
-Hero of the Shield-
Lv22 Iwatani, Naofumi]

"What do you mean with merchandise?" Raul asked the newcomer suspiciously. "You did not actually plan on selling Heartless, did you?!"

Naofumi scowled.

"Of course not", he denied. "I just have made the experience that shopkeepers are less likely to rip you off when you hold a living monster right into their faces."

Now Raul frowned and, wow, were they looking similar like that.

"Threatening the shop keepers does not work in Traverse Town", he proclaimed and Naofumi snorted.

"I bet I can think of some ideas…"

Both of them were staring intensively at each other, challenging their opponent with just their gazes alone. Ji-Han could already see sparks fly and quickly put an end to it, less they suddenly started to fight near him and Shua.

"But you don't plan on ripping him off", he told Raul, "right?" That stopped their hostilities.

"Right", he confirmed. "The Leon Shop prides itself in its customer service and all our prices are a result of supply and demand and when buying something, we do not offer any less than what we would have offered in other worlds."

"Then there is no need for putting Heartless into other people's faces, right?" He addressed Naofumi, who nodded.

"I only want my money's worth. Not that I currently have any Heartless to show off anyway."

"You shouldn't carry around Heartless at all", chastised Raul. "What if they ran off and threaten other people like they did now?!"

"It's not like they ever did that before", Naofumi defended himself. "All the other times I could walk directly near a person and they would still claw all over me. But for some reason when I entered the Shopping District today, they suddenly jumped off and away. Something had to have attracted them!"

"Hmm…. Maybe it's the Keyblade", guessed Ji-Han as he looked at his weapon. "It is the only thing that can take down Heartless permanently, so maybe they felt threatened by it?"

"That's a Keyblade?" Voiced Raul in surprised. "Yes, I can imagine that."

"Right, I get it, you are some sort of big shot", exclaimed Naofumi dismissively. "Now, can you get back to your post?! I've got things to sell."

"There is no need to wait for me", Raul told the other hero. "We always have at last two people at a time in one Leon Shop just in case one has to go out to fight."

"Is it over?" Suddenly interrupted the timed voice of Koyuki from the half-opened door to D's Pet Shop.

"Yeah, it was just two small Shadows", Ji-Han told her. "You can come out now."

Koyuki did as he said, but then instantly froze as her gaze felt upon the two black-haired and green-eyed heroes.

"I've found you!" She exclaimed enthusiastically, making Ji-Han perk up in excitement, too.

"Really?" He inquired. "Who is it? Naofumi-Ssi? Raul-Ssi? Both?"

"He", she answered pointing at the left one, making the person in question frown.

"What did I do now?!" Naofumi asked annoyed. "And could you stop using magic to find out people's names if they haven't offered them?!"

The last part was addressed to Ji-Han, who laughed sheepishly.

"I am sorry", he told him. "But that's an ability I can't shut off. I see the name, level, class and title of a person floating above their head. Unless they are too powerful."

"You can see levels in Traverse Town?" Repeated Naofumi surprised. "I haven't seen one since I landed here."

"I can also see other stats", supplied Ji-Han. "But for that I have to use a skill."

"Don't use that one me", Naofumi demanded but Ji-Han didn't agree.

"You might are going to rethink that", he proclaimed. "Since Koyuki-Seonbae's Iris says that you are apparently qualified to be my companion."

"Companion? For what?"

"First, I am Han Ji-Han, sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I am going to travel from world to world, saving them from the Heartless. So, how about it? Do you want to travel the multiverse with me, saving one world after another?"

"I'll pass", came the instant reply, shocking Ji-Han.

"What?! Why?!" But Koyuki's Iris had said, he would be fitting, didn't it? He shouldn't refuse!

"I don't care for any world", responded Naofumi nonchalant, as if talking about the weather. "They can all burn, for all I care. Just because some random ability said, I would be suited for it, doesn't mean I'll give a damn about it."

"Even your own world?"

"Especially that world!"

"But the motivation is pretty much the only qualification a companion of mine needs", Ji-Han pointed out. "So why did Koyuki-Seonbae's Iris say you are qualified, when you don't want to?"

"How should I know", Naofumi responded angrily. "For all I know, her Iris doesn't even exist in the first place. Or stopped working once she got to Traverse Town. I don't know and I don't care. I am not going to join you just because some ability said, I should."

Koyuki was looking sadder with every word coming out of Naofumi's mouth and once he had finished, she was completely downcast.

"Shit", cursed Ji-Han. This wasn't just the matter of getting Naofumi as a companion anymore. This was now a matter of proving to Koyuki that she wasn't useless, that her ability still worked. He had to do something.

"Maybe I just forgot to mention something", Ji-Han tried. "How about I'll read the quest information out loud. I refuse to belief that Koyuki-Seonbae's Iris gives her wrong information just because she left her home world! Maybe if it had completely vanished, but getting fuzzy like this, in a way that she only noticed now? I don't believe it!"

"If you end up wasting my time, I'll charge you a fee", proclaimed Naofumi but Ji-Han was too invested to care.

"Fine, as long as it's not stupid", he agreed. "[Quest Log]!" He opened the Quest Log and tipped on the quest {Central Keyhole: The One Keyhole to Close them All}.

"{Central Keyhole: The One Keyhole to Close them All}", he read out loud. "{Closing the hearts of each world one at a time is just impossible. Find the keyhole for all worlds and close it. Completion Award: +5 Levels. You will be known as savior of worlds by anyone connected to Traverse Town even indirectly. Completion Failure: The Heartless will continue to devour worlds. Decreased reputation with the members of the Hero Union.}"

"I already told you that I don't care about worlds getting destroyed", Naofumi said derogatively. "And telling me what kind of bonuses you get, doesn't really make we want to help you, now does it?"

Ji-Han shook his head.

"This is just so that I don't forget something, again", he noted. "And I have still another one: {World Graveyard: The Hearts of Lost Worlds. The hearts of the worlds devoured by the Heartless have to go somewhere. Find the location of the hearts and restore all the worlds to their original state. Completion Award: +5 Levels. You will be known as savior of worlds by anyone connected to Traverse Town even indirectly. Completion Failure: The worlds will stay lost. Decreased reputation with the members of the Hero Union.}"

"You really are living in some kind of video game", noted Naofumi and Ji-Han shrugged.

"More like I am a video game character living in the real world, really", he corrected. "So, how about it, any detail that changed your mind?" For him there wasn't really much of a difference between what he said then and read now, but who knew? There could be something he was missing."

And, to his surprise, yet joy, Naofumi actually did seem to consider it.

"When you restore a world…" He inquired, "…would that also restore the people in it?"

"I'd assume so. Not that I have actually gotten the chance to try it out…"

"Really funny", Naofumi said deadpan. "But I guess I actually could help you on your quest. Any idea on how to go on finding the 'World Graveyard'?"

"Not yet", admitted Ji-Han. "That's why the plan for now is to jump from world to world and try to find some information on the World Graveyard and closing their Keyholes along the way to protect them from the Heartless. So, you are interested now? What changed?"

"You failed to mention that you're on a mission to restore worlds. Now I don't give a damn about the world, but when it was devoured, I left behind a person. And so far you are so only one who has even remotely an idea on how to get her back. That's why I'll go with you. If I save the world in the process, that's just how it is."

Raul shook his head.

"I'll be back at the Leon Shop if you need me", he declared. "I shouldn't let Fino alone for too long…"

"I'll be there soon to sell my stuff", Naofumi promised, then turned back to Ji-Han. "Alright, I am guessing these two are your other companions?"

Ji-Han shook his head.

"Only little Shua here", he pointed to the Smeargle, who was curiously walking towards Naofumi, sniffling him, and then jumped up on top of his shoulder, making happy Smeargle-noises to the annoyance of the Shield Hero.

"Koyuki-Seonbae was just willing to use her Iris to help me out." He turned to face her. "I can't thank you enough for that, by the way."

"Oh, no, it was no trouble", she responded. "I am glad I could help."

"Hello! Thank you for calling! Fast, affordable, and reliable! Delivery God Yato, at your service!"

Ji-Han nearly jumped when the god appeared next to him. Right, he had completely forgotten, he had called for him!

"So, I see you actually found a pet, good", noted Yato. "And… oh, you."

Yato became completely unenthusiastic when he noticed Naofumi. Did they had a bad history with each other?

"I guess I don't need to introduce you to each other?" He inquired and Yato nodded.

"Thanks to my nature as a Delivery God, I know pretty much all, or at last most people in Traverse Town. Speaking of, do you want me to accompany you again?"

"That was the original plan", he confirmed. "But now…" He turned to Naofumi.

"What do you plan on doing? I'd think it might be good if we got used to fighting with each other. What do you think?"

"I still want to sell my stuff, but after that, why not?"

"Alright, then, Seonbae", he addressed Koyuki. "Do you mind if I have Yato accompany you back to Chie's Apartment?"

Koyuki was surprised.

"Are two people enough for you?" She wondered and Ji-Han shook his head.

"That's not it", he said, "you can still spread the world out there, that I'll be looking for people to save the worlds with. But I don't think it is necessary for you to go out of your way to help me like you are doing right now. I've already avoided the worst-case scenario and if I depend on your goodwill much more, I fear Shikamaru-Ssi will nag at me the next time we meet."

"…alright." For some reason Ji-Han felt as if it was the last thing that convinced Koyuki.

"[Status Window]. Here Yato-Nim, please escort Koyuki-Seonbae to Chie's Apartment."

"Your wish… has been heard loud and clear!"

"Alright. Goodbye, then, Soenbae. And, once again, thank you for all your help."

"Right. Goodbye, Han-kun, Shua and Naofumi-san."

"Goodbye."

With that she left, leaving the three party members behind.

"So, first was the Leon Shop, right?" Ji-Han wanted to confirm. "Speaking of, we do have to figure out how we handle our money and items…"

"Shouldn't you first add me to the party?" Naofumi interrupted. "Otherwise, we couldn't be really called companions, right?"

"…a party?" Ji-Han repeated, before the words the Hero of the Shield had said, registered with him. "Don't tell me… [Create Party]!"

PING!

{You've created a party.}

{What would you like to name your party?}

"Oh, my god, it works!" Ji-Han exclaimed happily, making Naofumi look at him incredulously.

"Is that really the first time you thought of creating a party?" He asked perplexed, flustering Ji-Han.

"I've had this ability for four days!" He exclaimed. "I haven't had the time to find out all of its elements!"

That was when he noticed the other panel that had appeared:

{Would you like "Oh My God It Works"
to be name your party?}

"Making my first party name 'Oh My God It Works' Of course not!" He instantly tipped {NO}, making {What would you like to name your party?} appear again.

"Hey", he addressed Naofumi. "What should I name the party?" But Naofumi shrugged.

"I don't really care. Do we actually need a party name?!"

"I'll just go with 'World Salvation Party' then", decided Ji-Han, tipped {NO} on the {Would you like "Hey What Should I Name the Party" to be name your party?} and gave the party the real name "World Salvation Party".

"Now, next… Naofumi, [Party Invite]!" At once a blue panel showed up in front of Naofumi who accepted.

PING!

{[Iwatani, Naofumi] has joined your party [World Salvation Party].}

"Shua, [Party Invite]!" Ji-Han continued, making Shua tilt his head in question.

"Just tip on the {YES}-button to accept", Ji-Han told Shua who did just that.

{[Shua] has joined your party [World Salvation Party].}

"[Status Window]!" Naofumi then said and indeed opened a blue panel in front of him.

"Oi", he then called out to Ji-Han. "Is there a way to see your abilities?"

"I just say 'Skills'."

"[Skills]. Hmm… it changed the name of some things... And don't I have more than those? Where is my [Plant Gathering Quality Boost]? Or my [Medicine's Effectiveness Enhancement]?"

"Those are skills?" Wondered Ji-Han. "That sounds more like Perks… speaking of, what Perks do I have? Only the Hero Union one, right?"

"[Perks]!" Naofumi activated and Ji-Han copied him.

What appeared was a grid just like with his skills, but with different symbols. But to his surprise, the black letters "BBS" on the light blue background were just on the fourth place. The first was covered by a key splitting it in half from the lower left to the upper right, the upper left side colored blue, while the other was colored red. And within these segments were two symbols, a sword in the blue one and a book in the red one. The second square was filled with a flexing left arm on a brown background. The third had a caricature of a guy pressing the palms of his hands against each other in a meditation-pose with a yellow fighting aura surrounding him. All of that on a red background.

What were those?

{[Muscle-Headed Keyblade Fighter]
A special [Perk] given to the owner on the basis of his choices in the Dive to Heart.
Increases STR by 10% of Base-STR and reduces INT by 10% of Base-INT.}

{[Gamer's Body]
Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game.
Restores HP, MP and cures most status effects after sleeping in a bed.}

{[Gamer's Mind]
Most mental influences do not work on the owner.
Enables calm analysis in the heat of battle.}

[Muscle-Headed Keyblade Fighter]? What the heck? So that's where the choices from his dream went… Still, 10% decrease of INT?! That meant that for every 10 INT, he needed to put one more point into it to make it have an effect. Even with that increase in STR, it still felt like a waste. He should probably completely stop investing points until he needed them and raise his stats through other ways… he already gotten more INT and VIT through actions, he knew how to repeat. Not like WIS and LUK where he could only hope for the best. STR also seemed simple enough, just some lifting should do the trick. And DEX… maybe some stretching? He had to try it out at some point.

[Gamer's Body] was interesting in the way that the game itself put its abilities in as if to explain why he was different from others. And [Gamer's Mind] added a mental defense he didn't know he had. That might come in handy later…

"[Inventory]." Ji-Han was ripped out of his thoughts when Naofumi opened the inventory, or rather, he tried to. But for some reason, there wasn't a panel opening in front of him. And, once he asked Ji-Han, the Gamer had to clear up, that [Inventory] really was the command to open it, even going so far as to pull out a Lucid Shard as proof.

"So I won't get all of the game's abilities", mused Naofumi. "By the way, what is that? What do you use it for?"

"It's a Lucid Shard. I don't know what I can use them for, but I got a quest from Zelretch to bring him 20 of the things so that he can maybe find that out. Currently I have 7."

"How do you get more of these? You aren't in your world anymore and I haven't seen them in Traverse Town."

"Oh, the Shadows drop these sometimes when I defeat them. And yeah, that's a thing you've got to get used to when you're with me: Item drops from Heartless."

"Do they only drop the items when you defeat them or is that at last something that's covered in the party system?"

"Don't know. Want to try it out?"

"I still need to sell some stuff, you know."

"Right, let's go do that first."

With that Ji-Han, Naofumi and Shua went towards the Leon Shop. The inside was pretty much like any other supermarket, with rows of goods on display in an orderly fashion. Next to the entrance stood some chairs, to make a place for weary costumers to rest. And a bit into the room, to the left, they could see a wooden counter with a teenage girl standing behind it.

She was rather short, had bright blue eyes pale blond hair that was put into a short pigtail with a red ribbon, as well as a single strand of hair standing upwards in the middle of her head. She wore a short red skirt, a black and white shirt, with the black part only being a flat-laying collar around her neck and the short, lower part of the stuffed shoulders, separated from the white by a zigzag-line. Her clothing also consisted of white wrist-cuffs that ended in another zigzagging line in the direction of her arm, as well as a red tie. But the latter was mostly hidden under the yellow apron, which emphasized her, for her petite frame, large breasts. But her most interesting feature were her pointy ears, going in a right-angle away from the sides of her head, which made a lot sense, once he read her title.

[Resigned Demon Lord
-Leon Shop Employee-
Lv49 Bloodstone, Fino]

"Welcome", Fino greeted happily as they walked towards the counter. "What can we do for you?"

"I want to sell some stuff", explained Naofumi as he took out five hand-sized ovals of green color from the inside of his cloak. Oh, no, only one of the sides was green, the other was black. And rough and uneven, while the green side looked like multiple small pearls stacked next each other.

"Right! Please wait for a moment", she told them and then took out a scanner-like gadget and pointed it towards the items.

A 'beep' and on the register appeared the number {-1998}, then she pointed it to the next, showing {-2001}, then {-2000}, then {-1996} and lastly {-2002}. Together that made {9997}.

"That would be 9997 Munny, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Right." The register opened and Fino took out the colored orbs. "One for 5000, two four 2000, one for 500, two for 200, one for 50, two for 20, one for 5, tow for… ah, no, one for 2."

"Thank you", Naofumi spoke up, took the Munny and put it in the insides of his cloak, followed by a {Thank you for your patronage.} from Fino.

"Alright, I am finished. What's the plan now?"

What was the plan again? Right. Fighting!

"Let's go and kill some Heartless", he decided. But just going around without a destination seemed a bit wasteful. "…but let's go towards the Konohanatei while we're at it. Maybe someone there got interested in joining."

"Sure."

"Smear!"

"So", Ji-Han thus began as they started walking towards their destination. "What abilities do you have? From your shield I can guess you are some kind of tank?"

Naofumi just nodded.

"And what about you?" He asked in return. "Is that key a melee weapon or some magic staff?"

"I am currently using it more as a blunt bat but thanks to my Gamer-powers, I can probably learn magic, too. But currently I don't know any. My best attack skill is the Power Strike, which gives massive damage and an increase of my CRIT for 15 MP. Which means I can use it 10 times before I gotta wait for my MP to recharge. Which is only 1 per minute. So it takes two and a half hour to completely recharge. On my own I was always running circles around the Heartless to whittle them down with normal attacks, using Power Strike only to fast reduce the numbers of enemies.

That reminds me, I wanted to pick up some stones and see if I can get a projectile-type skills to deal with the Air Soldiers… does any of you have a ranged attack skill?"

"Smeargle", Shua said apologetic and moved his tail with his hand, creating the image of a claw Ji-Han had seen before. And then again. And again. Was that supposed to mean, he only could use the claw? Huh, he really did just recently hatch, didn't he?

"I have the Air Strike Shield, where I can create a shield in mid-air. The range is like 50 meters and I can also control it to some extent, allowing me to ground flying enemies that are in mid-range."

"So our weakness is long-range", noted Ji-Han and Naofumi shrugged.

"I never had the problem in Traverse Town since the only enemies with that range were not strong enough to pass through my defense. You might have more trouble with that."

"Right. Let's go pick up some stones…"

He got three pebbles from the side of the road, when Heartless appeared in front of them, one Shadow and three Soldiers.

All four enemies rushed forward and so did they. Naofumi was the fastest and put himself in front of his party members as his shield suddenly changed its form, gaining two menacing dog-heads on it. But then Shua ran past him, attacking a Soldier with a spectral claw. That brought him in range of another Soldier, who thrust its claws at him. Shua's try to run away made him touch the dog-heads, who suddenly became alive enough to bite at him, not only making him fail in his initial goal, but also taking damage from the dog-heads, too.

"Damn!" Naofumi cursed as he changed the shield's change to something resembling a punch of interlocked pipes put together in a rectangular form. At the same time the Shadow completely ignored him, flattening himself and slipping under his feet towards Ji-Han.

"[Power Strike]!" Which was a pretty bad decision as Ji-Han used his best move to take down the enemy. Or, it should have taken it down at last. But for some reason the Shadow was a pretty badass one, taking the powered hit like a pro.

"[Observe]!" Ji-Han shouted even as he attacked the Shadow again with a normal attack. Which was enough to take it down at last, so that the panel vanished, as soon as it appeared, while a {+27 EXP} appeared instead.

"[Shield Prison]!" Meanwhile Naofumi had constructed something like a ball out of multiple shields connected with chains and trapped two of the Soldiers inside of it. The last one had escaped by jumped into air to do its spinning axe-kick on the Hero of the Shield.

But Naofumi was completely unfazed, as he just raised his shield to block him, throwing him back and flailing helplessly on the ground. That was used by Shua who was attacking the Soldier with another summoned claw, before running away again, as if fearing retribution, even though he scored a {Critical}.

"Don't run away", chastised Naofumi. "Attack it while it's down!"

Shua did as he was told, scoring another {Critical} and then another one, dispersing it into the air. Then, at the place it had been before where now not just one, but two drop items. Scrap Aluminum and Scrap Iron, to be precise.

Suddenly another Soldier appeared at the place the other one had been before. Shua quickly ran away, past Ji-Han who did the opposite.

"[Power Strike]!" Ji-Han activated the skill, smacking at the Heartless, scoring another {Critical} and instantly killing it.

That was when Naofumi deactivated the Shield Prison and, to Ji-Han's surprise, revealed only one Soldier-Heartless. Did the other one ran away? Or did it just dematerialize to reappear outside of the prison?!

Nevertheless, now that there was only one enemy left, Shua could easily take it down on his own, even if just by running around it and scratching at it multiple times. But at last that made his Keyblade and Blunt Weapon Mastery level up again.

"Alright", began Ji-Han after all their enemies were defeated. "That could have gone better."

"No shit", exclaimed Naofumi, before addressing Shua: "Don't just jump in front of the Tank!"

"Smeargle?"

"Don't be too harsh on him", Ji-Han told the shield hero." We did just jump into a group-battle without any strategy meeting. So, Shua, for the next time remember, Naofumi is the Tank. That means that his role is to get the enemies' attention so that we can attack them unhindered."

"Smeargle?"

"Not that the Heartless always play by the rules", noted Naofumi and Ji-Han had to agree, as he thought back on the movement-abilities they displayed. "Just attack those that ignore me, first."

"Smear!"

"Good that that's cleared up", said Ji-Han as he turned around and bend down. "Now how to split the monster drops?"

"What's that", inquired Naofumi and Ji-Han told him:

"Different kinds of scrap metal. Soldiers drop these from time to time. So far I've got aluminum, iron and lead."

"Oi, can I have them?"

Ji-Han turned towards Naofumi in surprise as he heard the request.

"Huh? You have use for scrap metal?" He asked the shield hero and Naofumi shrugged.

"I can get new shields with new abilities by absorbing any kind of items. Drops created from your ability should work, too."

"Is that so? Then you would be getting stronger, whenever we get a new item you haven't had, correct?"

"More or less."

"Then I don't mind giving you any item we come across the first time… unless they happen to be one of a kind. Or valuable. For example, I've got a potion that heals 500 HP. And considering I don't regenerate HP…"

"That would be too valuable to sacrifice for my shield", agreed Naofumi. "Just give me those random things and I am good."

"Then the rest… I hope you don't mind if I just hold onto it? Or do any of you guys need the money for yourself?"

"Smeargle", declared Shua as he shook his head and Naofumi sighed.

"Why don't you just take care of all the financial and logistic matters?" He suggested. "It would be too troublesome to split it up all the time and you are the guy with the inventory. Just don't use it for stupid things, or better, just sell and buy stuff when we are all together. I'll be satisfied with the drop items. But I keep the money I currently have in case I get separated or something."

"Makes sense", agreed Ji-Han, before turning towards Shua. "That's alright with you, too?"

"Smear!"

"Alright." Ji-Han gave Naofumi the Scrap Aluminum and Scrap Iron and opened his inventory, to give him the Scrap Lead, too.

"Do you want a Lucid Shard, too?" Ji-Han asked. "It's not valuable, but I do have the Fetch Quest from Zelretch with 20 Lucid Shards."

"Keep it for now", Naofumi told him. "It takes time for me to learn the abilities from new shields permanently and I've got four new ones. And who knows when you meet that Zelretch again. More importantly, did you get EXP from defeating the enemies?"

"Yeah… but only from those I defeated… does that mean there's no Equal Distribution? [Party Options]."

With Ji-Han's command another blue panel opened, showing the names of his party members, their level and their HP- and MP-Bars. Below where two options: {Settings} and {Kick}. Ji-Han chose settings and, there, he could see {Equal Distribution} being {OFF}. He tipped at the {Off}, only to open another panel of magenta color:

{Party member [Iwatani, Naofumi]'s level difference to party leader
[Han, Ji-Han] is greater than 10. Activating [Equal Distribution] will
exclude [Iwatani, Naofumi]. Activate [Equal Distribution] regardless?}

And below that were again buttons for {YES} and {NO}.

"I can activate Equal Distribution but it won't include anyone whose level is different from mine by more than 10", Ji-Han told Naofumi and the shield hero cursed.

"So I am stuck at level 22 until you get at last to 12", he calculated.

"You are a lot more powerful than both of us", reminded Ji-Han him. "It's not like enemies here would give you any meaningful EXP in the first place."

"Maybe", Naofumi conceded. "Let's just focus on our teamwork for the moment.

Soon enough, they met with another batch of enemies. To their surprise it was two Air Soldiers. And to their even bigger surprise, it was even easier than when Ji-Han fought the last Air Soldier on his own. Naofumi just used [Air Strike Shield], a transparent green shield larger than a person, above the first Air Soldier and smacked it onto the ground like a fly, allowing Ji-Han to easily attack its downed form.

And while he was busy, Naofumi maneuvered himself at Ji-Han's back, so when the second Air Soldier came down on them, he was easily repelled by the shield and attacked by Shua, who had no problem attacking the enemy on the ground. Only that, unlike Ji-Han, he couldn't finish the Heartless until it shook off the Smeargle and flew back into the air.

"Did you even do any damage?!" Shouted Naofumi in a mixture of annoyance and surprise, making Shua let out a surprised "Gle?!"

Ji-Han, wanting to see for himself, used [Observe] on the Air Solder.

{Air Soldier Lv15
HP: 67/75
MP: 0/0
Type: Emblem-Heartless
Winged Heartless. They fly over their enemies and dive to strike them.
Their high endurance and quickness make them tough to beat.
STR: 10 VIT: 30 DEX: 34
INT: 5 WIS: 5 LUK: 5}

"It's VIT is 30", told Ji-Han his comrades. "Shua can't harm it much with his STR of 5!"

"Stay back", Naofumi told the Pokémon as he repeated his earlier actions, only with Ji-Han as the one laying down the pain on the grounded enemy. And this time it worked, even if it took longer than the other one.

"We need to teach Shua a better attack", noted Ji-Han, earning him an angry "Smeargle", from the person in question.

"He's a Pokémon, right?" Wanted Naofumi to confirm. "Don't they generally get some stat-changing skills?"

"Except Karpador", reminded Ji-Han and Naofumi nodded. "Except Karpador."

"Smeargle, Smeargle, Smear!" Shua responded angrily and with a "Splash", Ji-Han had now an indigo stripe over his eyes, while Shua was stomping away from him I a pouting manner.

Ji-Han wiped at his face, but only managed to spread the color more and dirty his hand. Wasn't Shua born in Traverse Town? How did he even know what a Karpador was?

"So that is actual paint", mused Naofumi. "Hey, Shua, can I get some for my shield?"

The Smeargle forgot its anger and turned around confused. Naofumi just held his shield towards it and curiously, Shua came back and painted over the shield, only for the paint to vanish.

"Sketch, huh", mused Naofumi, before addressing Ji-Han. "It seems like Smeargles have a signature attack where they copy the enemy's attack. He probably did it with that scratch-like attack of his."

"Does that mean they only can learn attacks by copying them?" Inquired Ji-Han and Naofumi shrugged.

"Possibly. Or, since it's a Pokémon, fist learn the attack and then use it to learn another one, forgetting the first one in the process."

"You got all that from his paint?" Ji-Han exclaimed in surprise and Naofumi changed his shield to make it resemble the head of a Smeargle, making Shua shout out a perplexed "Smeargle".

"This shield got a similar ability", he explained. "It wouldn't make sense, if Smeargles hadn't such specific abilities."

"I see", responded Ji-Han. Man, that would be easier if they had some form of Pokédex… maybe he could see that, if he leveled up his Observe?"

"For now let's continue like we did before, Shua, you focus on the Shadows and Soldier-Heartless for now, until we get you another ability.

"Smear!" He acknowledged while at the same time holding a large square of black leather towards Naofumi.

"For me?" Wondered the Shield Hero. "Is that an item drop?"

"Smear!"

"Let me observe it first", Ji-Han told Naofumi less he absorbed it too early and activated his ability.

{[Chrome-Tanned Deer Leather (1 m²)]
A piece of deer hide that has been turned into
leather through chrome tanning.}

"So the Air Soldiers drop leather", he mused. "Alright, you can absorb it now."

"Can you hold onto it for now?" Naofumi asked Ji-Han. "Absorbing all of it seems just too wasteful. I should get a new shield with just a part of it."

"That is a good point", agreed the Gamer as he took the leather and put it into his inventory. "Wasn't there a clothing store in the Shopping Arcade? They should be able to cut it up without damaging it too much."

"We can go there later", suggested Naofumi. "It would be stupid to go back for every single leather piece when you got an inventory."

"Oh, right. Let's do it before we start traveling."

"Like that."

"Smear!"

Ji-Han made to continue, but stopped when he noticed a figure running towards them.

"Oh, this is the moment you've all been waiting for", the mysterious figure said. "My debut as a real protagonist!"

(A/N: Actually, since this chapter has been going on for so long, I am going to stop it here and make it a cliff hanger. Please look forward to the next chapter.)

"Eh? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhh?!"


A/N:

Mysterious Voice: Geez, that was mean. I was so looking forward to it!

Gashadokuro Amanojaku: You realize that you'll just be one of four protagonists, right? Just like in your own series.

MV: But this time I'll be in an action-adventure! Nobody is going to forget I am there when I am defeating Heartless, right? I even trained so much for this moment!

GA: That you did. How did you know there would be an Archer-position still free?

MV: Because this is Kingdom Hearts where the main characters have sword, shield and magic.

GA: Can't argue with that. And with the other characters like they are, it will take a while for them to get a ranged attack, making you fill quite a vital role.

MV: Yay!

GA: However, there is still something else we'll need to talk about.

MV: What?

GA: Don't go around breaking the forth wall when other people are around, alright? This isn't that kind of story.

MV: …but I can do the title call next time, right?

GA: …this story doesn't have a title call.

MV: Pleeeeeeaaaaase?

GA: Alright, fine. But only with me and the readers.

MV: Yay!

GA: Alright, now that that's settled let's get on with the real Author's Notes:


Hey, guys and gals.

Here we've got shown a lot more of the people who live in Traverse Town. But before we show once again their roles, let's talk about the other aspects of this chapter:

First, the windows. In a multiverse fanfiction, you sometimes come across a story that liked to reference a different one in fiction. For example, Ji-Han referencing the Amaterasu from Naruto. And some stories go even a step further, making the reference a plot point, like Tate no Yuusha with Final Fantasy. So, if the references are there and sometimes even important, what do you do? Here I decided to include the windows, ways on how a person can have knowledge of other worlds by literally "seeing" into them. But the "seeing" is so subtle that they do not "realize" the world they see is a real world and turn it into a book or movie. Including, as our Mysterious voice had showed… {MV: That's me!} …the fourth-wall breaking, the ability to notice those windows and interact with. Though since too much fourth-wall breaking would distract, I told her to keep it down within the story itself. {MV: Yes~.}

Second on the list are the honorifics. Some people don't like them in stories, some people don't like it if they aren't there, but personally I think they add some character, showing how a person stands in regards to another. So you can subtly show how a person gets closer to another just with the different honorific alone.

With that said, let's finally get to all the different people who showed up:

First the two party members, Naofumi and Shua. Why those? Well, as our MV noted, they replace Goofy and Donald as shield and magic user. Even if Shua is for now more on the physical side of things, that will change. They also are not fixed in their abilities and can evolve their skills into many different forms running on something similar to video game logic, just like Ji-Han.

{MV: And I am the archer!}

And then there is our MV who decided to join the group out of her own violation. She's going to fill the role of a rogue, an archer with stealth skills who can break the fourth wall and thus is only as limited in learning new skills as her resourcefulness.

Now, back to Shua, he's probably the only important character who's technically an OC. But does that count when he's a canon Pokémon race? I wonder? Nevertheless, like Ji-Han's monster drops, his gender and tail color had been decided on through a randomizer, though his ability [Own Tempo] and nature [Sassy] have not. That is because I thought Own Tempo the more useful non-hidden ability for this story, while Sassy is a nature that prefers a wizard-build over close-quarter combat and out of those seemed to be the most interesting personality to write once Shua got eloquent enough to communicate.

Speaking of Shua, let's talk about the parent: Count D. His role is clearly being the one to give Ji-Han his first companion. And while he normally likes to gather interesting creatures, Smearlge aren't exactly rare in Shua's home world and he's moreover not an immortal yokai, which means that he would die at some point in D's care. I think the defender of animals would prefer Shua getting the chance to reproduce before that happens.

Besides the pet shop, only another business has made an appearance: the Leon Shop. And with them Raul and Fino. Those two were so far the only planned people from Yuushibo to make an appearance. Ji-Han would stumble onto other Leon Shop's in other worlds, but those would be handled by people from other franchises. Why? Because that would be more fun, of course! Originally Yato was supposed to be a Leon Shop Employee until I remembered how problematic traveling to other worlds is for him.

The Shopping Arcade has also a bookstore, a tailor, a gun store, as well as an okonomiyaki stand. The letter belonging to Rokujou Miharu. He's one of the people who would be strong enough to travel with Ji-Han but doesn't want to for some reason. In his case, he literally doesn't want to be forced to do anything dangerous. Kumashiro Maya dislikes having to do anything with the supernatural, Izumi Shinichi would like to help but shares a body with someone who doesn't, Asteria Rena is at the point where she can't keep human form if she transforms one more time, her sister Yuinshiel wants to protect her, Kuro accidentally bounded with Otohime Mutsumi when she thought the latter was dying because of her anemia and Shikamaru is just as lazy as always. However, he is also intelligent so he helps Ji-Han another way, which was his role in the story, similar to Sasamori Koyuki.

Raiga comes from the same world as Shikamaru and I remember him as the filler villain who likes funerals. Funnily enough, he actually got turned into a canon character later on. And since mortician isn't the most common job and well-known job in anime, especially those I've watched, I've decided to give that role to him.

Next we have the Wagnaria Staff, Takahashi Souta and Mahiru, who not only are there as the canon characters to the restaurant, but also to show that people have managed to adapt to Traverse Town like any other place with their marriage. Hayase Makiko is just a random person from one of the already shown franchises so that I did not have just one canon person per franchise. A similar role would have Sumeragi Shion. Besides befriending Shikamaru, she and her four friends are known for being the most people who managed to get stranded in Traverse Town together. Bernstein Kirara lives together with Kuro, Mutsumi, their pet dog, the wolf children and their mother, while Shinomiya Kyouya and the two Amatsuka sisters live/work in the Konohanatei.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku