I'd like to think I'm a normal boy in a normal world.
Fifteen-year-old Nick Kelly immediately covered his eyes as he opened the curtains in his room, his eyesight still adjusting to the sunlight of the new day. His home town of Mistralton, South Carolina was very sunny in the summer.
Have you ever heard stories of people who have to undertake some grand quest because "destiny says so", "it is your fate to perform blabbity-blah" or some nonsense excuse like that?
At first, Nick wondered why he was awake so early on a Saturday, especially in the summer, but then he remembered the event his school was holding today.
One that his girlfriend was taking part in.
"Oh, crapbaskets, I'd better get ready!" Nick sputtered as he raced for his closet to pick out his clothes for today.
Yeah, well, I don't believe that load of crap. They always say that "it's fate", "this is preordained" or something like that. Simply put, I don't believe in destiny or fate.
Not wasting a single second, Nick slipped his jersey over his shirt and made a mad dash downstairs, only to be stopped quickly by his younger sister Marie.
"Hey, Marie, what's up?" Nick asked.
"Before you go dashing off to your girlfriend's big game," Marie laughed, reaching into her pocket to pull out a very interesting device. It appeared to be a kind of smartphone, with three golden spikes on the top forming the shape of a crown. "I kinda wanted to be the one to give this to you, since mom and dad aren't home right now. I assume they knew, because there was a note that said 'give this to Nick' when I found it."
"Wow, that's quite the slick model," Nick quipped as he glanced over his new phone. "Make sure you tell mom and dad that I love it."
"You got it, big bro," Marie giggled as she leaned over to kiss Nick on the cheek. "Now go watch your girl beat those wannabes into the linoleum."
"You bet I will," Nick chuckled. "I'm off!"
I firmly believe that I'm in charge of my own destiny, no one else. Believe it or not, that adage of mine was about to be tested on what might be the strangest thing that's ever happened to anyone.
"Have fun out there!" Marie shouted as Nick charged towards the high school in the distance. "Love you, big bro!"
"Love you, too, sis!" Nick exclaimed.
Would you believe me if I said that all of this started... with a phone?
(A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory. A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream. I want to line the pieces up... yours and mine.)
The Blue Time Ranger is proud to present:
Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse
Story Created: March 29th, 2021
Story Rated: T for Teen
And Now, the Dramatis Personnae (the cast, if you will)
Bryce Papenbrook as Nick Kelly
Eden Riegel as Marie Kelly
Trina Nishimura as Maylin Rae
Julie Maddalena as Haruka Rose
Megan Taylor Harvey as Sophia
Cherami Leigh-Kuhn as Ellen Baker
Story Summary: "Would you believe me if I said that all of this started... with a phone?" Fifteen-year-old Nick Kelly is your seemingly-normal boy in a seemingly-normal world, living out his life in his hometown of Mistralton, South Carolina. The day he receives a mysterious smartphone is the day his life changes forever when his smartphone's AI assistant pulls him into the adventure of a lifetime. After Nick's entire world is consumed by the darkness, he must journey across multiple different worlds to find a way to restore the life he once knew. Along the way, he'll make many new friends, battle creatures born of the darkness in people's hearts, and uncover a sinister scheme against the multiverse. Can Nick find his way home before darkness consumes everything?
Author's Notes: ...okay, I was not expecting this. Believe it or not, I lost faith in my ability to keep going with Key to Her Heart Deep Dive, especially considering how invested I am in both Sword Art Online: Twin Memory and Totally Spies: The New Adventures. I think the problem was that I intended to end that series with Key to Her Heart III, but then I kept going because inspiration hit me, but neither re:Mind or Deep Dive panned out because of that. So, I figured... screw it. Let's start over again, hence the "re:Verse". Yep, this is a complete reboot! This time, though, it's just gonna be general Kingdom Hearts-esque, without being mainly tied to W.I.T.C.H. or anything specific as the "main hub" of the whole dang thing. I guess you could consider this the beginning of my own "Phase Two".
Theme Song Notes: Since I can't post the opening and ending sequences anymore so as not to get my stories torpedoed, the opening theme is "Stories" by Snow Man (the eleventh opening theme to Black Clover) and the ending theme is "Yume Sekai" by Haruka Tomatsu (the first ending theme to Sword Art Online).
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Kingdom Hearts or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Square Enix and Disney. The only things of this story I DO own are any characters created by yours truly for the story. Any characters or things I don't own, I am just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of my readers. The same goes for any anime, video game, or comic book series that will be represented here. Besides, if I did own Kingdom Hearts, which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?
EDIT 4/12/21: Fixed up a few errors and edited the Dive sequence to not talk about dreams as much, considering it's not a dream sequence this time. Oh, and Lonnie, you only got the first guess right, lol
Act 1: And So the Adventure Begins
"Yeah, Ellen! Drive those suckers to their knees!" Nick shouted as the opposing team closed in on the home team's star player, Nick's girlfriend Ellen Baker.
Despite the other players surrounding her with clear intent of not letting her reach her destination, Ellen wasn't impressed, using her svelte frame (she wasn't "scrawny", she was "svelte", there's a difference) to easily weave through any attempts to rob her of the basketball she dribbled down the court before passing the ball off to her forward.
Just as planned, all of the opposing team went for the forward before she unexpectedly passed the ball back to Ellen, who now had a clear shot to the net.
"Thanks for giving me an opening, suckers!" Ellen laughed as she leaped with all of her strength to slam the ball into the net, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers.
By the time the final buzzer had sounded, the scoreboard in the gymnasium displayed the results proudly. By a score of 109-93, the Mistralton Mashers high school women's basketball team had punched their ticket to the tournament's final round.
And Ellen was feeling pretty good about her role in securing their team's victory, especially as her boyfriend came up to congratulate her.
"Way to go, Ellen!" Nick exclaimed. "You wiped the floor with those posers!"
"I still can't believe they fell for the oldest trick in the book," Ellen giggled, tying her long, blonde hair back into a left-facing ponytail. "Gotta thank Liz for coming up with that one. And just like that, we're heading to the finals!"
"Here's hoping we're ready, though," Liz responded. "Those Southtown players are no pushover, honestly."
"Hey, I'm feeling pretty confident about your chances," Nick quipped.
"That's because you're dating our star player, ya goofball," Michelle laughed.
"Well, that may have something to do with it," Nick laughed. "But really, she's your star player for a reason. You girls are gonna clean house at the finals!"
When the team split apart to head back to their activities for the day, Nick and Ellen stayed behind on the basketball court for just a bit longer.
"I'm glad you managed to drag yourself out of bed on a Saturday morning just for lil' ol' me, Nick," Ellen giggled, her emerald-green eyes sparkling at the thought.
"I'm not normally a morning person, but you know that I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Nick answered. "And now you're off to the finals to take the Mashers to their first title in seven years. I'm so proud of you, Ellen."
"Aw, stop, you're making me turn into a tomato," Ellen laughed through her blush, only stopped when Nick leaned in to kiss her, a kiss she gladly returned. "I guess I'll see you later, then?"
"Sleepover at my place, like we promised," Nick replied.
"Looking forward to it," Ellen replied.
With that, Ellen went to join her teammates for their victory celebration while Nick decided to head back into town to find a way to pass the time.
After a few minutes of walking, Nick suddenly remembered that he'd been gifted a brand new smartphone, apparently by his parents, and decided to start fiddling around with it and see what it could do.
Nick turned the phone on, and after the usual boot-up screens and sequences...
...a voice spoke to him.
"Hello!"
Initially, Nick passed it off as the phone just playing a pre-recorded message, as most smartphones did nowadays.
"May I ask your name?"
Now Nick wasn't so sure. It sounded like the phone was talking to him. He knew that some smartphones and other devices had AI assistants nowadays, but this was starting to weird him out slightly.
"Um..." Nick stuttered before deciding to play along. "My name is Nick Kelly. Mind if I ask yours?"
To Nick's utter bewilderment, he actually got a response, in the form of a girl appearing on his phone's screen. This girl had bright red hair with M-shaped bangs and a really short back, as well as the tips being rounded off, cyan eyes with a large black ring around her irises, and seven deep red hearts on each side of her head that curved inwards much like pigtails. She was wearing a white one-piece outfit with large sleeves opening up at the ends and a dress section ending just at her hips, the chest area having a strange hoop-like extrusion with strange black markings on it, and similar extrusions on the end of the dress, as well as the top and ends of the sleeves, and tight black shorts and black boots with silver soles and a large ring-like extrusion on the tips.
"I have several questions," Nick quipped. "Am I going nuts or is there a girl in my phone? How does that even work?"
"Simple," the girl responded. "I am an AI. My name is Sophia, and I am humanity's companion. It is very nice to meet you, Nick."
"Sophia, huh?" Nick replied, still utterly confused. "Okay, then, Sophia, I have quite a few questions to ask you..."
"I will answer them to the best of my ability," Sophia responded.
"First, you seem to be very advanced for an AI assistant imbedded in a smartphone," Nick stated. "Is that standard in this phone model?"
"Apparently," Sophia answered, her tone of voice indicating that she was unsure herself. "I do not remember anything until recently, when this phone was first activated. All I really remember is the directive to 'be humanity's companion' and to help out whoever this phone was given to."
"Mom and dad must not have known that when they bought it," Nick quipped. Before he could ask Sophia another question, he noticed something lying on the ground in front of him. Nick bent down to pick it up, noticing that it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary business card.
"Huh," Nick stated. "It says... 'Dive Into the Heart'. What does that mean?"
To Nick's surprise, Sophia's expression changed quickly.
"Keyword recognized. Beginning navigation," Sophia proclaimed.
All of a sudden, everything around Nick seemed to slow down and distort itself, as if reality was unraveling around him. Eventually, he was surrounded by a column of light and vanished completely.
To everyone around him at the moment, it was as if he was never there to begin with.
She walked down the hallways of the castle, humming to herself. She was in a pretty good mood today, considering how well her last mission had gone.
She appeared to be about fourteen years old, with long black hair that was parted in the middle into two buns on either side of her head and the rest hanging down, dark red eyes, and a Chinese-inspired outfit.
"It's good to be back home," Maylin Rae laughed as she stepped into the throne room to greet her emperor...
...only to find the throne itself empty.
This was concerning, as he was usually always in his throne whenever someone visited him.
Just as Maylin was about to begin a frantic search for her missing emperor, she noticed something gliding around the throne. It turned out to be a plush toy with yellow-orange fur, big ears, and small, white wings carrying a letter in its mouth.
"KERO!" Maylin shouted.
"All right, all right, Maylin, keep your shorts on!" Kero sputtered as Maylin rushed towards him to read the letter he had in his mouth.
"...where's Haruka?" Maylin asked.
"She should be in the Royal Gardens," Kero answered. "She's been waiting all day for you to get..."
Kero trailed off when he saw that Maylin was already dashing towards the gardens, only to get curious about what exactly was in the letter.
When Maylin finally found the Royal Gardens, it didn't take her long to find her companion sleeping in a flower field near the entrance.
Haruka Rose was about Maylin's age (if not slightly older), with long and wavy brown hair and strawberry pink eyes. She was wearing a unique hooded pink-and-black dress, with two small black cat ears, black ruffles on one side of her skirt and plaid on the other, thick belted black boots, thin white bracelets on her left wrist and a thick wristband on her right wrist.
Almost immediately, Maylin groaned, knowing how hard it was to wake Haruka up when she was zonked out like this.
"Sorry, partner, looks like I've got no other choice," Maylin sighed, flicking her right wrist to summon her weapon to her hand in a flash of light. This weapon was very strange, vaguely resembling a key. The handle of the weapon was dark blue and the guard encircled the handle like a white, squat teardrop where the top of the guard was a white heart. There were also two dark blue arches with a hole in the center of each, one on each side of the top of the guard. The shaft consisted of two separate blue poles that ended at the "teeth" that resembled half of a gear. A dark blue circle, surrounded by a light blue, then another dark blue circle around that which is the inside of the teeth piece, were attached to the shaft by another light blue arc. The outer side of the circles was a half circle with a point at the peak and two small spheres within the half circle, one by the peak and one in the center of the arc. The top of the shaft was a dark blue, six-pointed star within a light blue circle. Its keychain was a gold lobster clasp with a rusty chain attached and a green spellbook as the token.
"I didn't wanna do this, Haruka, but this is an official emergency," Maylin quipped, raising her keyblade, Spellbinder and concentrating. "Force, know my plight! Release the light! THUNDER!"
The teeth of Spellbinder sparked with electricity, and a second later, a bolt of lightning lanced down from the sky and struck Haruka in the chest, causing her to jump up in surprise.
"Good, you're awake," Maylin teased despite her distress.
"Did you have to use Thunder on me?!" Haruka sputtered.
"You were zonked out, what else was I supposed to do?" Maylin responded. "Listen, we have a problem on our hands."
That definitely got Haruka's attention, as she quickly hopped to her feet and summoned her own keyblade, Divine Rose. The weapon's handguard was designed to look like stained glass. The blade was made of a purple material with a rose design, resembling a rose in a purple glass bell, and the bloom of the rose served as the blade's teeth. The weapon's rainguard was designed to resemble the thorny leaves of a rose bush, and the keychain consisted of a slim chain, with a pink rose as its token.
"Now, Haruka, we should probably keep this a secret until we know more about what's going on," Maylin proclaimed.
"...even from the queen?" Haruka asked, glancing at something nearby.
"Especially from the queen!" Maylin exclaimed. "She's gonna flip if she finds out what this problem is!"
"Am I interrupting something, ladies?"
Maylin immediately froze comically when she heard the voice behind her, a voice that belonged to a young Chinese woman in her twenties or thirties, with red makeup over her piercing brown eyes. She had long black hair, tied in an old Chinese style, and wore a golden fan hairpiece with a circular green gemstone and a pair of wings on either side, a long cream-colored flowing skirt, and orange and red traditional Chinese dress over top, with sleeves so long they fell past her hands, along with a pair of sparkling silver ribbons.
Maylin laughed nervously at the sight of the queen, Su Yung, giving her a confused glance.
When I opened my eyes, I had absolutely no idea where I was.
I looked around, wondering why exactly I was falling.
Was I having another one of those dreams?
At second glance, I found myself surrounded by water, though I was apparently able to breathe just fine.
Hey, no one ever said dreams make any sense.
I looked downwards and saw myself falling towards a large platform. However, the instant I touched down on said platform, a gigantic flock of doves emerged from out of nowhere and took flight, revealing the design of the platform I'd landed on.
It... was me.
Specifically, it was a stained-glass design of myself with closed eyes and holding a strange key-shaped weapon, and the circles on the outer border of the platform were all different, symbols representing something in my life.
Just then, I remembered what I'd been doing before I found myself here.
I had been talking to my smartphone's AI assistant, Sophia, then I'd read a keyword on an odd business card, and now I'm here. Did Sophia bring me here? Am I actually dreaming?
I don't know why I got the odd feeling that something was missing from all of this, but I didn't have time to answer that mental question, because now I could hear someone talking to me.
There is so much to do, and so little time to do it.
That voice sounded like Sophia, but older.
I looked around, oddly seeing nothing around me but the platform I was standing on. Where... was I, exactly?
Just take your time and don't be afraid. The door is still closed to you. But it will open in time. Now, step forward. Are you up to it?
Well, challenge accepted, I guess.
Deciding to humor whoever was speaking to me, I took a few steps forward.
Suddenly, three pillars of light shined down from what I can assume was the heavens. Odd, ancient-looking pillars rose from the floor at the point where the light hit the platform, each one carrying something.
Untold power sleeps deep within you.
The first pillar was carrying a short sword with a blue handle and a golden pommel, with a small curved heart decorating the jewel on the hilt.
If you give that power form...
The second pillar was carrying a long staff with a tan handle, a green disk at the top, and a tip shaped like that same curved heart.
...it will grant you strength.
The third pillar was carrying a pentagonal shield with rounded corners, a red border, a mostly black face save for the prominent curved heart on the center, and a yellow outline.
Choose well.
Um... okay?
What exactly do I have to choose here?
Since I figured I wasn't going to get anywhere by just standing here, I decided to walk up to one of the pillars to see if I could get any answers before I recklessly made a choice.
First, I decided to look at the sword.
The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible
destruction.
Okay, was actually not expecting a swift response.
And yet, the voice didn't ask me anything else, like it expects me to think before I choose one of these.
At least it's patient, not unlike me sometimes. (At least I'm willing to admit it.)
Next, I decided to check out the staff.
The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin.
Sounds like actual magic, if you ask me. I tucked that thought away for the moment as I walked up to the third pillar so I could examine the shield.
The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.
With that said, I walked back to the center of the platform so I could think carefully about what I was going to choose.
Each of these three weapons represented a different personality trait, after all. I think this voice wants to know what I'm like, what kind of power I wish to wield.
After all, it said I hold untold power within me. I just gotta take a hold of that power and give it form, through one of these, apparently.
Well, people who know me will know that I'm a fighter by nature. When I commit to something, I don't quit.
So, with that in mind...
I walked up to the pillar holding the Dream Sword (the name just came to me, I guess) and took the sword into my hands, glancing at its strangely gleaming blade.
You choose the power of the warrior?
I nodded my head, and the Dream Sword vanished in a burst of sparkles. Okay, what was that for?
Your path is now set. What will you give up in exchange?
Give up?
Okay, now I'm a little confused.
It took me a bit to realize that the voice is asking me what my weakness is, of the three choices. Maybe this is gonna affect how I learn something in the future.
I took another few seconds to think it over before making my decision. I'm not much of a magic person, even though I do believe in magic. But I've never really been interested enough in magic to really be all that good at it, if I ever get to wield that kind of power in the future.
With that thought, I walked up to the pillar holding the Dream Rod and touch it gently.
You give up the power of the mystic?
I nod, and the Dream Rod disappeared, as did the Dream Shield.
You choose the power of the warrior. You give up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?
Guess it's giving me another opportunity to think it over. But, I think I'm good, so I nod for the third time today.
The three pillars sank back into the floor...
...and suddenly, I felt a rumbling. I took a few steps back, ready to run if I had to, only to realize there's really nowhere else to run here. There's just this platform and nothing else.
And, of course, just as I think that, the platform underneath me shatters like so much fine glass, the shards dissolving into light as I fell through the strange void once again.
Eventually, I could see another platform, depicting what appeared to be myself surrounded by more of those strange key-shaped weapons. Around my portrait were stars of varying shapes and sizes and colors.
What could they mean?
Something tells me that my heart knows the answer to that, but it's just not coming to me in whatever state I'm in right now. Maybe when I get out of here?
I slowly stopped my descent, landing softly on the next platform, and then the Dream Sword reappeared in my right hand.
You have gained the power to fight.
Wondering what that could mean, I twirled the Dream Sword in my hand like those fancy duelists in the old movies I see so much, before swinging the Dream Sword three times, once in a basic downward swing, then a forward stab attack, and finishing with a forward sliding chop attack.
All right, you've got it! You learn pretty fast. Use this power to protect both yourself and other people.
As I continued to lazily swing the Dream Sword, I didn't even notice that small shadowy blob things were slithering through the floor behind me until the voice called to me again.
There will be times when you must fight. Keep your light burning bright and strong.
I turned around just as one of the blob monsters emerged and leaped through the air to scratch at me.
Gonna have to try harder than that.
I slashed the Dream Sword through the air, bisecting the little creature and causing it to 'pop' out of existence.
I continued to attack the other creatures until they were all defeated, noting that they liked to sink into the ground at times, where I couldn't touch them. Annoying little...
Just then, the platform was slowly covered in a dark void, threatening to suck me into its depths like some cliché horror movie monster would do to its victims.
I simply swung the Dream Sword a couple times, and its glowing blade cleared the dark void away, only to show that the platform below me had changed again, now showing the likeness of a girl I can only assume is either of Chinese descent or she just likes the fashion sense, again wielding a key-like weapon. Her portrait was surrounded by multi-colored bursts of light.
The next thing I noticed was that there was a large, burgundy-red door standing at the edge of this platform. However, upon examining it, I found out that I couldn't open it for some reason.
I heard a noise behind me, and turned around to see a small treasure chest appear close to the door. I walked up to it, realizing that I probably had to open it to get on with this strange series of events, and tapped it twice with the Dream Sword. The chest magically opened itself so I could reach in and pilfer the contents, a small necklace with a purple four-pointed crystal hanging from it.
After slipping it around my neck, I then saw a barrel fall to the ground near the door.
Stranger things.
I walked up to the barrel and, after temporarily dispelling the Dream Sword (I figured I could re-summon it later), I picked up the barrel. Surprisingly not heavy.
After a couple seconds of thought, I decided to chuck the barrel straight into the door. Naturally, the barrel exploded into tiny planks of wood on impact, but the door shined slightly and I heard a clicking sound.
Yeah, can you tell this place is weird.
But here's the big question: what exactly is this place? I was definitely awake and alert when Sophia brought me here.
Speaking of that, I reached into my pocket, only to find that my new phone was gone. Well, that's weird.
Figuring that was all I had to do for the moment, I crossed the short distance to the door and found that I could finally open it. Progress!
Light shined from the doorway as I walked into it, now finding myself back in Mistralton, more specifically at the local park. Okay, now I'm getting a little weirded out.
I looked around and saw that there was absolutely no one here, despite having just walked through a crowd of people before this.
Okay, I stand corrected, there's three people here.
Each one of them was sitting on one of the nearby benches, doing something or other. Guess I have to talk to them to move onwards.
I walked over to the girl on the left, who had short pink hair, green eyes, and was wearing a white coat with gold designs, a pink dress underneath, white gloves, black stockings and white boots with gold designs.
She looked up at me, smiled brightly, and asked me a question.
"What is most important to you?"
I thought for a couple seconds before I answer that question. More personality quizzes, apparently, and I want to make sure I get my answers right.
When I'm ready, I looked back at her and gave my answer.
"My friends."
"Is friendship such a big deal?" she answers before disappearing.
Okay, now I wanna know what exactly this mystery voice wants by asking me all these questions. Is it to test if I'm worthy or something, like one of those "only the pure of heart and deed may pass" spiels?
Well, guess I won't be getting anywhere unless I answer the questions.
I walked over to the girl on the center bench, a young woman with a slim but curvy figure, blue eyes, and blond hair tied-up in a spiky ponytail wearing a crude, navy blue dress with a rope tied in the middle.
She looked up at me and, just like the first girl did, asked me a question.
"What is it you want out of your life?"
Oh, that one was easy.
"To be strong, so I can protect the people I love."
The girl smiled. "Strength to protect what matters, huh?"
Just like before, she vanished as well, leaving just one more question-giver on the right bench.
I walked up to her, and she glanced up at me. This last girl looked to be a good couple years younger than me. She had bluish, off-white messy hair, very wide and innocent-looking bright red eyes, and a small, brown horn poking out of her forehead.
As expected, she asked me something, too.
"What are you afraid of?"
I took a little longer to think about this one, wanting to be absolutely sure of my answer.
After about a minute, I give my answer.
"Losing something or someone that's important to me."
The girl shuffled her feet. "Is losing something really so scary?"
And finally, she vanished as well, leaving me alone in the park. Okay?
You value friendship most of all. You wish to be strong in order to protect people. You're scared of losing something that is important to you. Your adventure shall begin at night. The road ahead will not be easy, but a rising sun will await you at the end of your journey.
Yeah, when is it ever easy, right? I look up and nod to wherever the voice is coming from.
The day that you will open the door is both far away and closer than you think.
One random flash of light later, and I was back in the strange dark place, now on a platform that depicted a man in ceremonial robes surrounded by hearts of varying shapes and sizes.
And I was once again surrounded by those little shadow blob things.
Guess they didn't learn their lesson the first time, huh?
As the things tried to scratch at me, I simply summoned the Dream Sword and swung it over and over to cut the little buggers down bit by bit.
However, a few of them actually got me from behind while I was busy mopping up the other ones, but thankfully they didn't hurt too bad. I'm just hoping that whatever damage I take here doesn't reflect on me when I get out of here. That'd be awkward, methinks...
Once I defeated the last shadow, however, another pillar of light shined down from above, and it produced a small circle of green light on the floor. I stepped into the circle, and it immediately surrounded me with a column of green light that filled me with new energy and subsequently healed my wounds.
Hooray for convenient healing circles, I guess? Hey, I don't expect anything here to conform to reality.
Once I'd healed up, a series of small steps began to materialize out of the outer ring of the platform, eventually forming a long and winding staircase towards one last platform.
Despite the open invitation, I made my way up the stairs slowly, mostly because I didn't want more of those shadow things to jump me, and partly because I had a strange feeling that whatever was waiting for me on this last platform wasn't going to play nice.
And you would not believe how right I was.
I eventually reached the final platform, which only had multiple designs of those same curved hearts I've been seeing everywhere in this place, the voice gave me an ominous warning.
But you must be vigilant. The closer you are to light, the greater your shadow will become.
I took a step forward, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my own shadow move in a way that I did not.
I officially started to worry after I saw my shadow pull itself out of the ground and start moving on its own, eventually walking to just in front of me and growing in size until it became a massive, muscular, humanoid creature with black skin, short legs, long arms, two small and twisted wings sprouting from its back, and a large, heart-shaped hole in its chest area. Its head was covered by dozens of twisting black tentacles, and its beady yellow eyes looked like they were trying to stare into my very soul.
I immediately doubled back to at the very least get some breathing room, but the staircase I'd crossed to get here had disappeared. Oh, crapbaskets, what do I do now?!
But don't be afraid, and don't forget.
And the way the voice said that to me...
...it's like they believe in me.
With my mind officially made up, I turned back to the Darkside (I think that was its name?), readying the Dream Sword for a fight.
After all, weirdness or not, I'm the one with the weapon here.
And if this thing wants a fight, then by all means is it gonna get one!
I took up a fighting stance and waited to see just what the Darkside would do.
After a couple seconds, it very slowly lifted his right hand into the air before slamming it down quickly. I had to jump to avoid the shockwave that punch created, and when I landed, I saw the Darkside's arms stuck inside a pool of darkness that kept spawning those little shadow things.
I ran over to cut up the Shadows, but while I did this, I made sure to slash a few times at the Darkside's hand, happy to see that I was leaving gashes in its hands with each slice.
Eventually, the Darkside pulled its hand out of the dark pool, and it faded away, leaving me to wait for its next attack.
While it just ambled around and did nothing, I attempted a swing at its legs, only to yield no results. Guess the hands are probably the way to go.
Then, the Darkside kneeled down and thrust its chest out. Before I could wonder what that was meant to accomplish, the Darkside gathered energy in that heart-shaped cavity in its chest and launched it as a flurry of dark homing shots that came straight for me.
I quickly swung the Dream Sword to parry the blasts, only to send them flying back into the Darkside's head. Hey, we're on to something here!
Realizing that the thing's head was probably more vulnerable than its arms, I waited for the Darkside to do its fist slam attack. This time, though, I jumped over the strike so I could land on and run up its beefy arm, taking me right to the Darkside's face.
Yeah, you're screwed now!
I swung the Dream Sword once in a basic downward swing, then a forward stab attack, and finishing with a forward sliding chop attack that carved a large gash in the Darkside's face and caused it to collapse to the ground, exploding into wisps of darkness.
However, apparently I'd done something I wasn't supposed to, because now the whole platform was flooded with darkness and was trying to drag me into it. Blasted thing was trying to take me down with it!
However, no matter what I tried to escape, the darkness around me would just smother me and keep pulling me into its depths.
But don't be scared. After all, you hold the mightiest weapon of them all.
And as my vision was stained completely black, the voice said one last thing to me.
And don't forget... you are the one who will open the door.
Nick shook his head a few times to finally clear the cobwebs from his mind when he found himself back in Mistralton, exactly where he'd been yanked into the strange place earlier.
"All right-y then, that was a trip," Nick proclaimed.
Though apparently, he wasn't done tripping yet.
When Nick looked around, time seemed to have frozen around him. Not a single person was moving at all, completely frozen in their spots...
...except for one person, completely covered by a brown robe with an X-shaped metal piece tying it together.
"Am I finally losing my mind?" Nick asked.
"I'm come to see the door to this world."
The figure pointed towards the large radio tower in the distance. Nick followed the figure's gesture, and now he could see a gigantic doorway at the base of the tower that clearly hadn't been there ten minutes ago.
"This world has been connected."
"Wait, what?" Nick gasped.
"Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed."
"Okay, buddy, you're freaking me out here," Nick stated, suddenly wishing he could summon the Dream Sword and teach this nutball a lesson.
"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."
"And that means... what, exactly?" Nick wondered.
"There is so very much to learn. You do not understand anything."
"Do you want me to knock you flat on your keester?" Nick shot back, despite knowing he probably couldn't summon the Dream Sword now that he was back in the real world. "Because I'm no wallflower, you know."
"A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."
Before Nick could rush in and attack, the robed figure vanished completely and time restarted for the city. In addition, that strange doorway at the base of the radio tower had disappeared as well.
"Nick? Is everything okay?" Sophia asked. "You seem a little troubled."
Nick looked down at his phone, which was now back in his hands, and saw Sophia giving him a look of concern.
"Honestly, Sophia, I'm not sure," Nick answered. "Did you take me to... whatever that place was?"
"It seems that I recognized the keyword you read," Sophia answered. "And when I did, it activated an unknown function. Remember, Nick, I do not remember much beyond my original directive."
"Either way, it seems like that keyword thing could be useful in the future," Nick stated. "And while I was in there, I could hear your voice guiding me, making sure I stayed safe. So... thank you, Sophia."
To Nick's delight, Sophia smiled.
"Praise accepted," Sophia giggled, humming a tune to herself.
Now that he was back in the real world, Nick realized that he probably had to get home soon so he could prepare for his sleepover with Ellen, and turned around to dash back the way he'd come, unaware of the hooded figure watching him a nearby alleyway.
Despite Maylin's fears, Su Yung hadn't been angry with her, merely wondering what all the commotion had been about. However, she was beginning to grow fearful as she read the letter that their emperor had left for them.
To my dearest Maylin,
I am truly sorry to leave without saying my goodbyes, but as you have no doubt realized, trouble looms ahead. I know not why, but the stars are vanishing one by one. And that can only mean a great disaster cannot be far behind. It pains me to leave all of you behind, but I must investigate further. There is somebody out there with a key much like yours, and he will be the literal key to our survival. I want you and Haruka to find him and stand by his side, understand? We need that key or else all is lost. Go to a world called Traverse Town and find a man named Ziggy. He will point you in the right direction.
Oh, and... one more thing. Can you apologize to Su Yung for me? Thank you.
~ Clow Reed
"What... what could this mean?" Haruka asked. "Emperor Clow's usually more direct about what's happening."
"I guess all we can do is trust him," Su Yung responded. "As... eccentric as he is, he has never let us down before."
Maylin immediately snapped to attention, bowing to Su Yung. "Don't you worry about a thing, Your Majesty," Maylin proclaimed. "We'll find the Emperor and this boy with the keyblade."
"Thank you both so much," Su Yung replied. "We have prepared a special Gummi Ship for you to use in traversing the worlds. Please, be careful out there."
"Aren't we always?" Maylin teased, winking at the queen until Haruka reached out to pull Maylin away by her sleeve.
It was a mostly silent walk to the recently established Gummi Ship Control Room, with Haruka glancing around at the futuristic technology that didn't look like it meshed well with the more fantasy magical kingdom vibe the rest of the Kingdom of Clow gave off.
"Okay, Haruka, here's the deal," Maylin quipped. "While we're exploring other worlds, we can't let anyone know that we're not from 'around here', let's put it. Gotta protect the world order, right?"
"Okay, but what if the Heartless start attacking innocent people?" Haruka asked. "I know we've gotta keep the order and all that, but you know as well as I do that the Heartless don't really give a crap about the world order."
"If it comes down to it, we'll do what we've gotta," Maylin answered as they walked up the stairway that would lead them into the Gummi Ship, a large orange starship made completely out of Gummi Blocks, a sort of space-age material that allowed for travel between different worlds. "Hey, Maylin to launch crew! Whenever you're ready up there!"
The "crew" behind the Gummi Ship controls (which was really just one person, Tomoyo Daidouji, as Sakura was still out practicing with her new magic) nodded from her panel as the interstellar runway in front of the Gummi Ship opened up to reveal a long tunnel that led out into dimensional space.
"BLAST OFF!" Maylin proclaimed dramatically. Haruka (being the actual pilot of this Gummi Ship) secretly pushed the blast-off button on the control panel, causing the Gummi Ship to come to life and blast off through the tunnel and into dimensional space, where it flew away from Clow Castle and into a wormhole tunnel.
"Hey, someone looks excited," Marie giggled as she kept watching Nick glancing at the front door of the Kelly household. He'd been doing that for the past half an hour. "Can't wait for your girlfriend to show up, huh?"
"Is it really written on my face?" Nick teased.
"Man, you've got it bad for her, huh?" Marie stated, sitting down by her brother. "I thought the sweet talk, the kisses, and the taking her to that fancy restaurant on Clover Street was evidence enough, but... you really love her, don't you?"
"Honestly, Marie? Yeah, I do," Nick answered, thinking back to the day he'd first met Ellen. "I know I may be too young to be thinking this just yet, but... with all of the good times we've had... I really think she's the one for me. And... I'll admit, I did have a dream about 'putting a ring on it', but we're still young, after all."
However, Nick was immediately concerned when he noticed Marie's expression fall just a bit. He liked to think he knew his sister pretty well, after all, and he was worried he'd said something to upset her.
"...Nick?"
Marie looked up at Nick, worry highlighting her face. "...you won't forget about me, will you?"
Nick instantly reached over to pull Marie into a hug, and despite being surprised by it, Marie closed her eyes and cuddled into her brother's embrace, making a little humming sound that let Nick know that she was happy.
"Why would I ever forget you, Marie?" Nick answered. "You're my sister, and that's never going to change, no matter what life throws in our faces."
"I was... just concerned," Marie admitted. "You and I used to be practically joined at the hip when we were growing up, but then, we grew more independent as we got older..."
"Hey, that's just life," Nick quipped. "You take what you get and you run with it. That's my philosophy, at any rate. Just remember, no matter where you go... I'm always with you, Marie."
"Same here," Marie giggled, kissing Nick on the cheek. "I love you, big bro."
"I love you, too, Marie," Nick replied.
Their moment was sadly interrupted by a sudden loud rumbling akin to a rumble of thunder.
"Oh, swell," Nick groaned as he and Marie moved to the nearby window to check outside. "Did those cursed weather people lie to us again?!"
Marie, though, was too busy staring at the sky, which had suddenly turned pitch-black, despite it only being about five o'clock. The sun had been seemingly replaced by a large, multi-colored orb of energy with wind swirling around it.
"Um, Nick? Is that normal?!" Marie gasped.
"Not by any means," Nick responded. "And if Ellen's on her way here, she might have gotten caught up in whatever this is! We have to go and find her!"
"Mom, dad, we'll be right back!" Marie exclaimed so their parents would understand, while she and Nick threw their coats on so they could head out into the city to hopefully find Ellen before she got caught up in whatever was happening to their city.
"Where was the last place you remember Ellen being, Nick?" Marie asked.
"If I remember correctly, she was finishing up her victory after-party at the school," Nick replied. "That's probably the first place we should check out."
Marie nodded before turning back to the road ahead...
...and almost screaming in shock when something materialized from a small pool of blackness that had formed on the sidewalk and jumped at Marie.
Nick quickly planted himself in front of Marie and swung his right fist to bat the creature away, only for it to land on its feet and jump right back in.
Deciding that they could only avoid the creature since they couldn't do anything to hurt it, Nick and Marie dashed down the Clover Street crossroad that led towards Mistralton High School.
Inwardly, though, Nick was officially concerned. As more and more of those shadowy blob monsters emerged from pools of darkness that were popping up all over the place, he recognized them as the creatures who had tried to attack him in the strange void that Sophia had sent him to earlier that day.
But what are they doing here in the real world?! Nick thought. What the hell is going on here?!
"Behind you!"
At the sound of Sophia's voice, Nick decided to obey his instincts and duck down, causing one of the shadow creatures to fly right over him.
"W-Who was..." Marie gasped as Nick reached for his phone.
"Thanks for the save, Sophia," Nick stated. "Do you have any idea what's going on?!"
"They are Heartless, creatures born of the darkness of people's hearts," Sophia answered. "The ones chasing you are a Pureblood type known as a Shadow."
"I guess there's no way we can actually fight them, considering how me punching one in the gut didn't do squat?" Nick groaned.
Before Sophia could answer that, Marie pointed to just ahead. Mistralton High School was approaching fast, and Nick could see Ellen standing in front of the door.
"Oh, thank god!" Nick proclaimed as he and Marie ran up to Ellen to see if she was all right. "Ellen, is everything okay? ...please say something, you're scaring me."
Ellen's response was a simple four words.
"The door... has opened."
"Wait, what?" Nick asked.
Ellen turned around to face them, and though she appeared to be unhurt, her expression was slightly different, like nothing Nick had ever seen on her before.
"The door has opened, Nick!" Ellen proclaimed. "Now we can visit the outside world!"
"Hold on, Ellen, what are you talking about?" Nick replied. "We need to find somewhere to huddle up! It's not safe out here by any means!"
Suddenly, swirls of darkness, much like Nick had seen in his Dive Into the Heart, began to surround Ellen's body, though she either didn't notice or wasn't afraid of them.
"Once we step through that doorway, we may never be able to come back," Ellen stated. "We might never see our parents, or anyone we love, ever again. But this could also be our only chance. We can't let fear take hold of us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"
Having heard enough, Nick rushed over to grab Ellen, only for the dark tendrils surrounding her to lash out and snatch both him and Marie, as if they intended to pull the siblings into the darkness alongside Ellen.
Both Nick and Marie struggled as best they could, but the darkness surrounding them was overwhelming. As their vision began to close down, Nick and Marie attempted to reach for each other as well, only to come up just short.
To both siblings, they now saw nothing but darkness.
Until they heard Sophia's voice.
"Strength of heart recognized. Beginning conversion now."
A bright light burst through the darkness around them, eventually shining bright enough to drive the darkness away and restore their vision.
When Nick could finally see again, he looked around frantically, only to find Ellen had completely disappeared.
"Ellen, where did you..." Nick called out, only to be distracted by catching a glimpse of what he now held in his right hand. It appeared to be a sword-like weapon resembling a classic skeleton key approximately three and a half feet long, with a long silver keychain extending from the hilt and a hollow five-pointed star token on the end of the keychain. The blade and teeth of the were silver, the rainguard was blue, its handleguard was bright gold, and the weapon's teeth formed the outline of a crown.
While studying his keyblade, Nick also noticed that his clothes had changed. He was now wearing a black jacket with grey pockets and a stripe of the same color on each sleeve. The hood, sleeves and jacket had a red lining, and six buttons could be seen on the front. Underneath, he wore a black tank top with a V-neck style collar and white lining. Covering his hands were gauntlets with a similar color scheme to his jacket, with red linings and grey circles on the backs, with yellow buckled straps wrapped around his wrists, leaving the palms of his hands exposed. He was also wearing black shorts with several grey pockets, a red band wrapping around each pant leg, and small yellow shoes with blue straps.
"Okay, while I really like these clothes, what is going on here?!" Nick exclaimed as he turned towards Marie, only to find that she had changed as well.
Marie was now wearing a black, hooded jacket that she kept unzipped, with short sleeves, gold buttons, and a checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath the jacket, she wore a white shirt with a V-neck, blue cropped trousers that were hemmed with the same checkered pattern as her jacket, black gloves on each hand, and black high-top boots.
To Nick's surprise, Marie had also obtained a keyblade, one that resembled his own in a way. It featured a gold handguard, and a blue blade patterned with stars, the concave rainguard had now been replaced by a diamond-patterned bell shape, and at the top two corners of the handguard were five-pointed star designs, while the bottom two appear to have massive golden screws. Between the handle and the rainguard was a glass-like dome, deep blue and speckled white like a starry sky, and on the guard below the handle is a gold crescent moon. The teeth of the blade were now silver, and the crown shape was now lined.
"Okay, so, Nick... what exactly just happened?" Marie asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine, sis, because I have no freakin' idea," Nick admitted.
"I sensed your strength of heart," Sophia proclaimed, causing Nick to take his phone out (which was now in a pocket on his jacket). "So I have drawn out that strength of heart and forged it into a keyblade for each of you."
"W-wait, wait, you did that, Sophia?" Nick gasped, despite Marie's confusion at the sight of Sophia. "How did you do that, exactly?"
"It is an inherent function of mine," Sophia answered.
Just then, another Shadow appeared in front of Nick and lunged for him, and he reacted without thinking, swinging his keyblade, the Kingdom Key (the name just came to him) in a horizontal slash attack. To his surprise, it worked, the Kingdom Key's blade bisecting the Shadow and causing its two halves to pop out of existence.
"The keyblade is the only weapon that can defeat the Heartless," Sophia explained.
"Hey, that means we can do something about this home invasion!" Marie proclaimed, casually twirling her own keyblade, Star Cluster. "Let's go pop some Heartless and see if we can figure out what's happening."
"Exactly what I was thinking, sis," Nick quipped.
Now armed with their new outfits and weapons, Nick and Marie charged back into the city, destroying Shadows left and right with their keyblades and searching for anyone that was still stuck out in this nightmarish hellscape.
Eventually, though, both siblings realized that they weren't really getting anywhere, as the Shadows continued to pop up no matter how many they cut down.
"Hey, wait, I remember something I saw earlier," Nick stated. "When this creepy dude in a brown cloak was talking to me, he pointed to a strange door at the base of the radio tower. It disappeared after he left, but I have a feeling it's there now. That may be related to why everything's gone to hell in a handbasket."
"Well, then let's get over there and check it out," Marie proclaimed.
Things only seemed to get worse as Nick and Marie approached the radio tower, as areas of the city that they knew very well had seemingly vanished without a trace, and more areas were in the process of being ripped out of their foundations and sent flying into that large dark orb in the sky.
By the time they'd actually reached the radio tower, the tower itself was on a small island that had ripped apart from the city and was now floating towards the orb in the sky.
Marie chanced a glance back down at the city and was heartbroken at what she was. Devastation covered everything in sight, buildings were being ripped asunder, and most of the open streets were now swarming with Shadows.
"H-How could this happen?" Marie gasped.
"MARIE, LOOK OUT!"
Marie's instincts took over and she leaped to the side to avoid the punch of a massive, muscular, humanoid creature with black skin, short legs, long arms, two small and twisted wings sprouting from its back, and a large, heart-shaped hole in its chest area. Its head was covered by dozens of twisting black tentacles, and its beady yellow eyes looked like they were trying to stare into her very soul.
Recognizing it as the same beast from his Dive, Nick raised the Kingdom Key towards the Darkside.
"All right, you, do you want another beatdown or something?!" Nick shouted. "Because we're carrying a mean grudge against you for destroying our city! Marie, let's take him down!"
"Music to my ears," Marie proclaimed as the siblings readied their keyblades for battle.
The Darkside once again just stood there initially, but after a couple seconds, it very slowly lifted his right hand into the air before slamming it down quickly. Nick and Marie had to jump to avoid the shockwave that punch created, and when they landed, they saw the Darkside's arms stuck inside a pool of darkness that began spawning Shadows.
Marie slashed at the Shadows that spawned while Nick attacked the Darkside's hand, happy to see that he was leaving visible gashes in its hands with each slice.
Eventually, the Darkside pulled its hand out of the dark pool, and the pool faded away, leaving Nick and Marie to wait for its next attack.
While it just ambled around and did nothing, Marie attempted a swing at its legs, only to yield no results.
"I tried that last time," Nick stated. "I think we can only hit this thing in the head and hands."
"Wait, you've fought this thing before, Nick?" Marie asked.
"Long story that I don't have time to tell right now," Nick answered. "Incoming!"
The Darkside kneeled down and thrust its chest out, gathering energy in that heart-shaped cavity in its chest and launched it as a flurry of dark homing shots that came straight for Nick and Marie.
Nick quickly swung the Kingdom Key to parry the blasts, only to send them flying back into the Darkside's head.
Before Marie could do the same, the Darkside created a large ball of darkness in its right hand, then shot it into the sky. A few seconds later, small blobs of dark energy began to rain down from the sky, forcing Nick and Marie to stay on the move.
One stray orb did fall onto Marie, but Nick was relieved to see it hadn't done much at all to her, merely made her stumble. I wonder if that's because of the power our keyblades give us, Nick thought. I'm sure that if those blob things hit a normal person, they'd be a goner.
Nick relayed to Marie that the Darkside's head was more vulnerable than its arms, so they could wait for the Darkside to do its fist slam attack. This time, though, Nick and Marie jumped over the strike so they could land on and run up its beefy arm, taking them right to the Darkside's face.
"Yeah, you're screwed now!" Nick shouted.
"Say goodnight, you monster!" Marie shouted.
Nick swung the Kingdom Key in a basic downward swing, then a forward stab attack, and finishing with a forward sliding chop attack that carved a large gash in the Darkside's face.
Marie performed a diagonal upward slash from her left leg, followed by two thrusts, two more thrusts, and ending with a forward rushing thrust that finally finished off the Darkside, causing it to collapse to the ground and explode into wisps of darkness.
However, Nick now noticed that the strange door at the base of the radio tower was now wide open and letting an ominous-looking wind billow forth out of it.
This wind eventually became so strong that it yanked both Nick and Marie off of the "island" and into the sky, towards the gigantic orb of darkness.
The two siblings tried desperately to grab onto each other, but just as they were about to touch hands, a pulse of darkness burst forth and separated the two of them.
The siblings could only cry out each others' names as darkness consumed their vision.
Somewhere in a Victorian era-style town drenched in eternal night sky, Maylin and Haruka walked through the large double doors of the First District, ready to begin their search.
"Sounds like we still haven't gotten used to the transporter," Haruka teased, chuckling slightly at how woozy Maylin looked at the moment. "Well, one of us hasn't, anyway."
"I never liked that teleporter sensation," Maylin groaned. "It makes me feel like I'm seasick, and that's never a..."
Maylin trailed off when she looked up at the sky and saw something that horrified her. Haruka followed her friend's gaze upwards and gasped in shock.
Though the night sky of Traverse Town was full of stars, one rather large star began blinking out before vanishing completely.
"A star just vanished," Haruka stated. "That can only mean that the Heartless have destroyed another world..."
"How much longer is this madness going to keep going on?!" Maylin shouted, now fully alert.
"We need to find that keyblade wielder quickly," Haruka replied. "Do you think Ziggy would know where he is?"
"How should I know?" Maylin wondered. "I've never met a Ziggy in my life, and I've seen a lot of different worlds."
As Maylin and Haruka continued their conversation, they completely missed someone waking up in the nearby alleyway.
"Ugh... what was in that chop suey mom made?" Nick groaned, still not completely awake. But when his eyes finally focused enough to notice the unfamiliar surroundings all around him, he quickly snapped out of his trance. "W-wait, what happened?! Where's my home? Where'd Marie go?! She was right there with me when we..."
Then, Nick remembered the giant orb of darkness separating him and Marie after they'd defeated the Darkside. Determined to find his sister before something worse happened to her, Nick ran out of the alleyway and into the First District of Traverse Town.
"Okay, now this poses another question," Nick stated to nobody in particular. "Where in the hell am I?! This clearly doesn't look like my hometown..."
"You are currently in another world."
Nick immediately reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, happy to see that at least Sophia was still with him.
"Good to see you're all right, Sophia," Nick quipped. "...wait, did you say I'm in another world?!"
"Yes, another world," Sophia answered. "This place is known as Traverse Town, a world that exists between other worlds as a refuge for people who have lost their worlds to the Heartless."
Nick gasped in shock as the full truth smacked him in the face with all the force of a crashing airliner. "Sophia? Do you mean that... my world is gone?!" Nick gasped.
"...yes," Sophia answered after a moment of hesitation, knowing Nick wouldn't like the answer to that question. "When the Heartless take the heart of a world, that world is destroyed."
"That's what that strange door must have led to," Nick stated. "Man, this sucks. I lost my home, my world, my family, my girlfriend... how much worse could this get?"
"I really wish I could give you a hug, Nick," Sophia responded. "You sound like you need one right now."
"Is there any way I can restore my world, Sophia?" Nick asked.
"...that information is not available," Sophia replied. "But I know how other worlds can still be saved. If you can find a world's keyhole, which leads to a world's heart, you can lock it using your keyblade, thus preventing the Heartless from taking its heart."
"So, I guess all I can do at the moment is find a way to help out other worlds until I find the jerkface responsible for destroying mine," Nick proclaimed, the Kingdom Key flashing into his right hand. "Though... I think, at the moment, I need to explore this place. Sophia, is it possible for you to show me around?"
"Of course," Sophia giggled, her image shrinking to the bottom-left corner of the screen so the phone could now display a map of Traverse Town. "I believe there is somebody in the nearby Accessory Shop. Try talking to anyone you see. Maybe they can offer some clues."
"Well, it's as good a place to start as any, I guess," Nick quipped, walking towards the center of the First District where the Accessory Shop was. After walking in, Nick was struck by how oddly futuristic the inside of the shop looked, contrasting heavily with the old Victorian style of the rest of Traverse Town.
"Someone's got good taste," Nick chuckled.
"Hey, there, how can I..."
Nick turned around, towards the shop counter, and saw a man in his forties with short brown hair and a red hat with a message that read "Caution! I am a boozer! Banzai!" staring at him.
"Oh, it's just a kid," the man groaned.
"Hey, buddy, I'm not a kid," Nick shot back. "And for your information, my name is Nick Kelly!"
"And I am Sophia, humanity's companion," Sophia proclaimed.
"Okay, okay, chill down," the man responded. "So, what's with the long face, Nick? Did you get lost or something?"
"...sort of," Nick admitted. "According to my phone friend here, this place is supposed to be a refuge of sorts, right?"
"For people who've lost their world, yes," the man answered. "Seems like you're definitely not from around here."
"Guess I'm not alone in that regard," Nick replied. "Well, I should probably keep looking. I need to find my friends."
"Well, then, my name is Captain Matthews," Matthews proclaimed. "Good luck with whatever you're searching for. If you find yourself in any trouble, just come to me."
"I might just do that," Nick teased as he left the Accessory Shop, following Sophia's directions to a large double door behind the Accessory Shop that led him into the much larger Second District.
Once there, Nick saw a man running from something. Nick was about to move in and offer his assistance when the man fell to his knees, clutching his chest in obvious pain. Before Nick could do anything, a glowing, heart-shaped object burst out of the man's chest and transformed into a strange monster, the man vanishing completely.
This creature appeared to a noble knight-type warrior at first glance, with armor bearing a wicked heart-shaped emblem.
Before Nick could decide what to do, the Soldier did a somersault before disappearing in a sphere of violet light. Then, a group of Shadows popped up all around him.
"You freaks again!" Nick growled, summoning the Kingdom Key to his hand and charging in to attack the Shadows, mopping them up quickly with a few slashes each. He didn't really care for the fact that the Shadows could sink into the ground to avoid his attacks.
Once there were no more Heartless in the vicinity, Nick decided to start looking around for anyone that could help him with his predicament. With Sophia as his guide, Nick traveled to different buildings in the Second District and asking about anyone that could help him.
What Nick didn't know was that Maylin and Haruka were also searching the same places he was, just barely missing Nick as he moved on to other places.
Nick's travels took him through a nearby hotel, the Gizmo Shop (which held many interesting gadgets as well as a LOT of Shadows), and a small house with nobody inside it, though Nick did see pictures of what appeared to be small fairy creatures.
"Excuse me, are you lost?"
Nick jumped slightly, not expecting anyone to be in the house. He turned around just in time to see two teenage girls poke out of the nearby room.
The first girl had short, ginger hair and light brown eyes with slightly tanned skin, and was wearing a black outfit composed of a cropped top and a skirt with corner slit to reveal a pair of shorts, pale pink ruffles lining her sleeves and skirt, and mauve fabric covering the collarbone, a pink ribbon on her chest, a pink belt with a heart buckle, dark magenta boots and black leg warmers lined in white with a pink heart on top, matching her gloves.
The second girl had midnight blue eyes and long midnight-blue hair partially pulled back, with her bangs held by a gold clip, and was wearing a short white dress with ruffled pale blue trim around the sleeves to accent the tulle petticoat of her tutu skirt, which had light blue scalloped lining, a white ribbon on her chest, a blue strap wrapped around her waist, white boots with pale blue soles, and leg warmers trim with ruffles and adorned by a light blue heart to match her gloves, which instead had a blue heart on the hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry for intruding," Nick stuttered. These two looked like "magical girls" from some of his favorite anime, and he didn't want to know what he'd do if they thought he was an enemy. "I'm just trying to find something."
"Yeah, you've got that classic 'stranger in an unfamiliar land' look on your face," the first girl laughed.
"That was pretty much you, too, when we first got here," the second girl chuckled. "Oh, sorry, we should probably introduce ourselves. My name is Honoka Yukishiro, and this is my best friend and partner in fighting evil, Nagisa Misumi."
Naturally, Nick did a double take, knowing now that these were the heroines of the original Pretty Cure series, one of his favorite magical girl anime, and he was shocked to find that they actually existed.
Well, now that I know 'other worlds' are a thing, I probably shouldn't be surprised, Nick thought.
"Is that fairy... a friend of yours?" Nick asked, gesturing to the picture on the wall. Nagisa sighed heavily in response.
"Yeah, those are our fairies," Nagisa replied. "We lost our fairy partners when our world was taken from us. And worse, we at least can't do much because our fairy partners are also what we use to transform."
"It's not just us, either," Honoka continued. "Many of our other fellow Pretty Cures lost their fairy partners when our world was destroyed, and they're most likely scattered across all kinds of different worlds."
"You seem to be transformed right now," Nick quipped. "Your outfits just scream 'magical girl'."
"Oh, we got a friend of ours to make recreations of our Pretty Cure outfits," Nagisa laughed. "Just something to hold onto until we can find our way home."
"I hope this isn't too much to ask, but..." Honoka started. "If you're going to be exploring other worlds, could you maybe find our fairy partners for us?"
"Hey, it's the least I can do," Nick replied.
After getting some useful information on the Pretty Cures' fairy partners (that Sophia stored in the phone's databank), Nick waved to Nagisa and Honoka as he left their house and followed the path back to the First District.
"Any luck, Nick?" Matthews asked as Nick returned to the Accessory Shop for a quick breather.
"Nothing," Nick answered. "At least I'm getting in some experience fighting all these Heartless."
"Try taking one more look around town," Matthews replied. "You may find something you didn't before."
After deciding that was a good idea, Nick did a few quick stretches before heading back outside.
"They'll keep coming at you out of nowhere."
Nick instinctively summoned the Kingdom Key to his hands as he searched for the source of the mysterious voice.
"And they will keep coming after you, so long as you wield the keyblade," the voice continued, its owner eventually stepping out of the shadows to reveal him as a blonde, blue-eyed cyborg man with blue and white clothes. "But why would such a weapon choose a kid like you?"
"You wanna explain what that's supposed to mean?" Nick shot back, taking a defensive stance.
"Never you mind," the cyborg proclaimed. "Now hand it over."
"Are you nuts?!" Nick shouted. "You really think I'm gonna just give you this?!"
The cyborg just sighed in frustration before deploying a long, hooked blade from his arm.
"Very well. Have it your way," the cyborg growled as he charged to attack Nick.
Ducking and weaving as best he could through the cyborg's attacks, Nick eventually took advantage of the cyborg's seemingly stiff movements to swing the Kingdom Key in an upward arc to deflect a blade strike. This gave Nick the opportunity to land a few hits on the cyborg before retreating, as he didn't want to give the cyborg any chance to skewer him with that blade.
After a few more rounds of this, the cyborg finally had enough and began channeling lightning through his hands before punching the ground and sending a wave of electricity across the ground to strike Nick. Surprisingly, this didn't stop him completely, as despite the electric attack, Nick managed to knock the cyborg down with a flying jump slash.
"There... there you... go..." Nick sputtered before collapsing from exhaustion.
"Hey, you found it," a boy with red hair and blue eyes carrying two antique firearms stated as he appeared behind the cyborg. "Nice going, Ziggy."
Ziggy glanced down at the unconscious Nick, his keyblade still in his hands.
"Still, Jr., it looks like things are much worse than we thought," Ziggy proclaimed.
Meanwhile, back in the Second District, Maylin and Haruka were walking down the alleyway near the Pretty Cures' abode, still unable to find their target.
"Man, this search isn't getting us anywhere," Haruka quipped. "And is it me, or is this place really, really spooky at times?"
"Oh, please, like I'd be scared of a big bad ghost," Maylin proudly proclaimed, only to jump nearly six feet into the air in shock when someone nearby tapped her on the shoulder. "ACKACKACK"
"Um... excuse me, did the Emperor send you?"
Haruka looked behind her to see a young girl with pink hair and amber eyes addressing them.
When Nick finally regained consciousness, he found himself in what appeared to be a bedroom in the hotel he'd searched through earlier.
"Okay, I'm beginning to think that this is gonna be a pattern until I get used to all of this..." Nick groaned as he saw two men staring intently at him.
"Okay, good, you're awake," Jr. proclaimed. "We didn't know how long you'd be out, honestly. Fighting Ziggy must have really exhausted you. Either that, or he overdid it again..."
"That, and I'm not really used to fighting like this yet," Nick admitted. "Well, and the fact that I got zapped by a lightning fist attack. That's definitely gonna take some getting used to..."
"Those creatures that keep attacking you, the Heartless, are after the keyblade you wield," Jr. stated. "Even though it's your heart they really want."
"Wait, they take hearts?!" Nick gasped.
"Yes, Heartless steal other people's hearts," Sophia responded as Nick retrieved his phone. "That is how they increase their ranks."
Nick then noticed that his keyblade was leaning against the nearby wall.
"We had to get it off of you for the moment since it was the only way to shake off those creatures," Jr. stated.
"It will not work for much longer, though," Ziggy proclaimed. "It's hard to believe that you, of all people, were chosen by the keyblade."
"Why is that so hard to believe?" Nick groaned. "There's a pair of teenage magical girls living in the Second District, not much older than me, and I'm sure they kick all kinds of ass!"
Out of curiosity, Ziggy picked up the Kingdom Key and studied it for a second before it disappeared from his grip almost immediately, reappearing in Nick's hands.
"Hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?" Jr. teased.
"All right, will you two start making a lick of sense?!" Nick proclaimed. "What in the hell is going on here?!"
Just down the hallway, in the Red Room, Maylin and Haruka were talking to the third member of this strange group, MOMO Mizrahi.
"Okay, so... you two know that there are many other worlds out there besides your kingdom and this town, right?" MOMO asked.
"Well, yeah, but they're supposed to be a closely guarded secret," Haruka answered.
"It's because the worlds have never been connected until recently," MOMO explained. "Everything changed when the Heartless attacked."
"And by Heartless, I assume you mean the shadowy blob monsters I've been fighting nonstop all day?" Nick asked.
"Yup," Jr. replied.
"The Heartless are attracted to the darkness in people's hearts, since they are created from said darkness," Sophia proclaimed.
"Hey, have you heard of a man named Yaldabaoth?" Jr. asked.
"Yalda-whosits now?" Maylin sputtered.
"I know I had trouble pronouncing it the first few times," MOMO giggled. "They say he was studying the Heartless, and he recorded all of his findings in an extremely detailed report."
"That sounds very interesting," Haruka replied. "Is there any way we could see that report? It could be very useful in our mission."
"If only it were that simple," MOMO sighed. "Its pages have been scattered to many different worlds."
"I wonder if that's part of why Emperor Clow disappeared?" Maylin asked. "Maybe he's looking for that report so we can find out what exactly we're up against. I mean, we don't see the Heartless too often, but we know they're a pretty big problem. Wait, wait, don't we need that kid with a keyblade?! Isn't that the whole reason we came here?!"
"The Heartless greatly fear the keyblade, as it is the only thing that can release the hearts they control," Ziggy proclaimed. "That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what you do."
"Hey, I didn't ask for this, you know," Nick shot back.
"Well, the keyblade chooses its own master, and it chose you, so tough beans," Jr. laughed.
"You know, sooner or later, the Heartless will find us," Ziggy stated. "It would be best to prepare yourself to fight for your life. Do you think you are ready?"
"I'm not one to back down," Nick replied.
"Then why don't get go and meet up with MOMO?" Jr. asked. "She's probably in the nearby room with our other visitors."
"Wait, 'other visitors'?" Nick asked.
Nick's question was interrupted when a Soldier appeared in the room, causing him to immediately brandish his keyblade in response.
"Jr., go and make sure MOMO is safe!" Ziggy exclaimed.
"Way ahead of ya, chief!" Jr. exclaimed, dashing over to slam the other door open, just barely missing Maylin in the process.
"Are you ready, Nick?" Ziggy asked.
"Yeah, let's mop 'em up!" Nick responded.
The Soldier began marching towards Ziggy, but Nick responded by lunging forward and swinging the Kingdom Key hard enough to send the Soldier flying out of the second story window and into the wall by the aqueduct outside, its body evaporating on contact with the wall.
Nick and Ziggy jumped down to ground level only to find themselves surrounded by more Soldiers.
"Okay, that's not even close to funny," Nick groaned as he struck one of the Soldiers with a horizontal slash.
"Don't bother with the small fry," Ziggy proclaimed. "Find the leader and take him out!"
With that, Nick and Ziggy split up to accomplish their respective tasks. Nick decided to retrace his steps, using Sophia's map to find any place he hadn't been to in Traverse Town yet.
Along the way, Nick was forced to stop every now and then to fight off a small group of Soldiers. Thankfully, they didn't seem to be too tough to deal with, even in small packs like this, and Nick was able to comfortably travel through the town until he returned to the Hotel area from earlier.
But when he got there, Nick noticed another pathway that he hadn't before and rushed that way, eventually taking him to the Third District, a small area with a few houses and a large water fountain.
"This is pretty much the only area I haven't explored, right, Sophia?" Nick asked.
"Yes, though some entrances in this district are currently blocked off," Sophia answered.
Just then, Nick found himself surrounded by a pack of Shadows and Soldiers.
"Well, nuts," Nick groaned.
From a balcony high above the Third District, Haruka watched Nick get surrounded.
"Hey, isn't that..." Haruka gasped.
"Hey, Haruka, a little assistance here!" Maylin shouted as more Heartless approached them, eventually combining their power to fire a large blast that sent Maylin and Haruka flying off of the balcony...
"INCOMING!"
Nick only had time to glance upwards as Maylin and Haruka fell on top of him, the three teenagers ending up in a tangled pile.
"O-Ouch..." Nick groaned.
"Sorry about that," Haruka quipped.
Maylin could only gasp in shock when she saw the Kingdom Key in Nick's hands.
"H-Hey, you have a keyblade!" Maylin gasped.
Before Nick could explain anything, large blocks appeared from the ground to seal off the only exit out of the fountain area.
"I guess explanations will have to wait," Nick proclaimed, readying the Kingdom Key for a fight.
Maylin and Haruka took this time to summon their own keyblades as the Heartless approached them.
One Soldier flung itself through the air towards Nick, but he raised the Kingdom Key into a parrying stance and knocked the Soldier back, stunning it just long enough for him to close in and chop it in half.
"Hey, you're not half-bad," Maylin proclaimed, twirling Spellbinder in her hand. "Now watch this."
Maylin raised Spellbinder into the air, the teeth glowing with a bright blue light. "Force, know my plight! Release the light! FREEZE!" Maylin proclaimed as she snapped Spellbinder down to unleash a spreading burst of ice crystals in front of her that easily wiped out a good chunk of the Soldiers standing there.
Meanwhile, Haruka curiously eyed a much larger Shadow that was approaching her. When it leaped for her, she swung Divine Rose and sliced the Gigas Shadow apart rather handily.
As the battle raged on, Nick found it easier to identify these girls' fighting styles, where Maylin focused on casting magic and Haruka focused on brute force.
Finally, all of the nearby Heartless were gone, allowing Maylin and Haruka to finally properly greet they boy they'd been searching for.
"So, you've got a keyblade too, huh?" Maylin quipped.
"I was going to say the same for the two of you," Nick answered. "I guess a keyblade isn't quite as exclusive as I thought, huh?"
"Well, that's a bit of a story," Haruka laughed.
Before Haruka could tell that story, however, the immediate area began to rumble violently.
"Oh, what now?!" Maylin shouted.
Suddenly, strange armor pieces began to fall from the sky, all of them landing in a pile until they came together to form what appeared to be a powerful Heartless. Its body was divided into several pieces (a body, a head, two arms, and two legs) none of which were directly connected to each other and all of which seemed to be acting independently of the other. The Armored Torso was vaguely hour glass-shaped, violet with a lilac, diamond pattern around its waist, and had light black additives on it. That same wicked-looking heart emblem, most likely the symbol of the Heartless, was emblazoned on the center of the armor. Its head was violet, spherical, and sported three silver spikes and a silver faceplate with several holes in it. Both of the Gauntlets were violet with wide wrists and three lilac, segmented fingers, the Hammerlegs were short, violet, and ended in large, hammer-like, black feet, and all of the pieces of the Guard Armor seemed to be hollow.
"That's definitely not pleasant," Nick stated. "And I'm pretty sure that's the leader I have to find and fry."
"Well, then let's fry it!" Maylin proclaimed.
"We're right behind you!" Haruka exclaimed.
The Guard Armor floated towards the three keyblade wielders, glaring menacingly at them before it thrust its Gauntlets towards them. Maylin moved forward to parry the punch so Haruka could swing Divine Rose and knock the arm backwards. Nick took this opportunity to start hacking away at the torso, having quickly figured out that they needed to destroy all five parts of this thing in order to achieve victory.
While this was happening, the Hammerlegs started stomping forward, pushing Haruka backwards with the small shockwaves created by each stomp. Nick landed from another aerial combo on the Armored Torso and saw the Hammerlegs approaching him as well.
"Yeah, how about no?" Nick taunted, performing a twirl with his keyblade extended that knocked both Hammerlegs away from him.
While Nick was distracted with the Hammerlegs, the Gauntlets began spinning around the Armored Torso, which began moving forward like some kind of demented helicopter. One of the Hammerlegs kicked Nick back into the spinning attack, which caused him to fly back in that same direction and fall to the ground, his damage obvious.
"Hold on, buddy, I've got ya!" Maylin exclaimed, aiming Spellbinder towards Nick. "Force, know my plight! Release the light! HEAL!"
Nick's body was covered in a soft green glow, and when it faded, the pain he was feeling from the Guard Armor's combination attack faded instantly.
"Hey, thanks for the heal," Nick proclaimed. "Now watch me give this thing some payback."
The Hammerlegs once again attempted to kick Nick back into the Guard Armor, but Nick was ready this time, parrying the kick before striking at both Hammerlegs with an overhead chop, finally doing enough damage to destroy them.
"All right, two down, three to go!" Maylin exclaimed.
Haruka leapfrogged off of Maylin to get enough height to attack the Armored Torso as it tried to float away from them, landing a single but powerful slash across its chest.
When Haruka landed back on the ground, the Gauntlets attempted to grab her, but Maylin made short work of them by casting a spell that caused thunderbolts to rain down on the Guard Armor, damaging the Armored Torso and destroying the Gauntlets.
"And then there was one," Nick stated.
The Armored Torso responded by spinning its body around at high speeds before jumping into the air and landing with enough force to shake the ground while still spinning.
"Okay, now this thing's just being rude!" Maylin shouted.
"Let's wait for it to stop spinning," Nick stated as the three keyblade wielders continued to dodge the spinning torso. "I'll bet it's gonna tucker itself out, and then we can move in for the kill."
"Sounds like a plan," Haruka quipped.
Just as Nick thought, when the Armored Torso stopped its spinning attack, it came to rest on the ground, and all three wielders closed in and delivered a mighty slash at the same time.
Explosions began to rock the Armored Torso as its head fell to the ground with a loud THUNK, and a large, glowing heart, much like Nick had seen earlier, floated out of the torso as it collapsed to the ground and dissipated into nothing.
"Well, I'd say that went pretty well," Nick admitted before turning to his allies. "So, were you two looking for me?"
"Yeah, our Emperor told us to find you and stick with you," Haruka answered.
"He said that you had 'the key to our survival', and now I see what he meant," Maylin quipped, eyeing Nick's keyblade. "Hey, did you wanna come us? We have a really cool ship that can take us to other worlds."
Nick glanced at the ground, seemingly uneasy. "I wonder... if I could find my friends? My family?" Nick asked himself.
"If you stick with us, I'm sure you're bound to find them sooner or later," Haruka answered.
"Do you really think we can find them?" Maylin whispered to Haruka.
"I'm not going to give him false hope," Haruka whispered back. "We've seen where that leads, right?"
Maylin looked at Nick, still slightly downtrodden, and decided that she had to do something to fix that.
"Hey, you can't come along looking all gloomy and mood-killing, okay?" Maylin stated. "This boat of ours runs on happy faces, understand? So buck up and let's see your best happy face!"
A few seconds passed by before Nick lifted his head to flash an unbelievably cheesy grin. It took a few seconds before a response came, but Maylin started laughing uncontrollably.
"Oh, that was one heck of a face!" Maylin laughed.
"You know what, girls, I'll take you up on that offer," Nick stated once the laughing fit had subsided.
Maylin extended her hand in friendship. "The name's Maylin Rae," Maylin proclaimed.
"My name is Haruka Rose," Haruka stated, extending her own hand.
"And I'm Nick Kelly," Nick replied, extending his own hand so they could all put their hands together.
"And the contract is sealed!" Maylin giggled. "From now on, we're in this together!"
Somewhere in a far-off world, a group of villainous-looking individuals were convening around a stone table with an eerie green puddle of water in the center of it. The puddle showed a transparent image of the three keyblade wielders in Traverse Town.
"That little squirt," one of the figures proclaimed, surprised at the boy's progress. "He actually beat that Heartless! Who would have thought he had it in him?"
"Such is the power of the keyblade," a second figure responded. "The child's strength is not his own strength."
A third figure glanced down at the image pool, chuckling evilly. "Hey, here's an idea," the third figure stated, laughing in an over-the-top manner. "Why don't we just turn him into a Heartless? That would settle things for sure."
"And it appears that those girls with him are the Emperor's lackeys," a fourth figure proclaimed, most of his mouth hidden behind a large, ornate mask shaped like a falcon's beak. "Good lord, they're all so filthy just looking at them."
"You are no prize yourself," a fifth figure taunted, appearing to have literally white skin. This angered the fourth figure, who reached out towards the fifth figure with his hand.
"Shut your disgusting mouth," the fourth figure snarled. "One more crack and you're dead."
"That's enough, boys."
The five villains all looked towards their leader, a woman with long brown hair with a chain-like hair accessory and light olive green eyes. She was wearing a white lab coat, light blue shirt with white stripes and black jeans.
"It appears that the keyblade has chosen him," the woman proclaimed, playing with a phone-like device in her hand. "Will he be the one who conquers the darkness, or will the darkness swallow him? Either way you look at it, he'll definitely be useful to us."
A short while later, Jr., Ziggy, and MOMO had come to the First District to see Nick off on his new adventure.
"Make sure you are all prepared for the journey ahead," Ziggy proclaimed. "We have no idea how far the Heartless have spread, after all."
"Whenever you're in town, try and check out the shops around here," Jr. stated. "They've got some pretty neat stuff that could help you on your adventures."
"And this is from all of us, to get you started," MOMO giggled as she handed Nick a cluster of munny, the currency of Traverse Town. "You can spend it on whatever you want. Oh, and Ziggy wanted to give you this."
Ziggy pointedly looked away as MOMO gave Nick an Elixir, a golden, sphere-shaped item.
"I sincerely hope you can find your friends," MOMO stated.
"Good luck, and kick some ass out there!" Jr. proclaimed.
"Look out for each other and keep your spirits up," Ziggy proclaimed. "Until we meet again."
And with that, the trio departed, leaving Nick to convene with his new friends.
"Okay, so... our Gummi Ship is just beyond that gate," Maylin stated, pointing to the large double door that they were currently standing in front of.
"The... what ship?" Nick asked. "Sorry if I'm lost."
"The Gummi Ship is our vessel," Haruka explained. "It allows us to travel to different worlds via the Lanes Between. Think of them as dimensional pathways in space."
"It's quite the slick piece if tech, if you want my opinion," Maylin giggled before remembering something, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a gemstone filled with a burning orange-red glow. "Nick, this is for you. It's a Magic Crystal, basically a crystallized essence of magic power. These crystals will allow you to perform different magic spells much like I do."
Nick nodded, clenching his fist to crush the crystal in his hands. The glow from the crystal surrounded Nick and filled his body with a new magical power.
Luckily, a random Soldier had spotted them and decided to rush them, giving Nick the perfect opportunity to try his new spell. Nick spun the Kingdom Key before aiming it towards the approaching Soldier, a large sphere of fire bursting from the teeth and flying forward to strike the Soldier and explode on contact, vaporizing it instantly.
"Sweet," Nick quipped.
"I've got something for you, too, Nick," Haruka responded, handing Nick another crystal, only this one appeared to be glowing a bright white. "This one's an Ability Crystal. Basically, if you use this crystal, you'll gain a new ability."
"Very convenient," Nick stated, taking the crystal and crushing it in his hands, once again feeling a new power emerge. Looking for something to use it on, Nick saw another Soldier leaping towards him. Nick rushed in to attack, and when he attacked, his hands moved all on their own, swinging the Kingdom Key upwards extremely fast. The Soldier didn't stand a chance and was split in half.
"Nice," Maylin giggled. "What'cha calling that one?"
Nick took a couple seconds to think it over. "...Slapshot," Nick answered.
"I approve," Haruka replied.
"Well, if that's everything, let's head out," Nick stated.
"Well, it seems like we are in for big adventures," Sophia giggled. "It looks like it's up to me to keep track of everything."
"...um, who said that?" Maylin wondered.
"That would be me," Sophia replied as Nick pulled out his phone. "I am Sophia, humanity's companion. It's nice to meet you two!"
"Yeah, I forgot to introduce Sophia," Nick sighed. "She's the AI assistant in my new smartphone, and..."
"Whoa, whoa, hold on, where did you find a Gummiphone?!" Maylin gasped.
"Wait, a 'Gummiphone'?" Nick wondered.
"A Gummiphone is a very special form of communication that only exists in the world where Maylin and I come from," Haruka explained as she and Maylin dug into their pockets to show Nick their Gummiphones. "Much like how a Gummi Ship is made of material that's infused with the power to travel between worlds, a Gummiphone is pretty much made of the same stuff, and anyone who has a Gummiphone can communicate across worlds."
"Wow, very space-age," Nick quipped. "And, in case you were wondering... I really don't know how I got mine. This morning, before all of this madness started, my sister Marie gave it to me, saying that apparently my parents had bought it as a present for me. I'm pretty sure that a Gummiphone isn't something you can just buy from your local U.S. Cellular, is it?"
"Nope-ity nope," Maylin replied. "As far as we know, our Gummiphones are the only ones in existence, since you need Gummi Blocks to make them. And our Gummiphones definitely don't have an AI assistant in them!"
"Guess that makes Sophia one-of-a-kind, huh?" Haruka teased.
"All I'm really sure of is that this Gummiphone was pretty much the catalyst for this adventure, since all the crazy things I've been through started after I got this," Nick explained.
"Maybe we'll figure something out on the way," Maylin quipped. "Well, my friends, shall we depart for adventure?"
That was all Nick needed to hear, following Maylin and Haruka out through the massive double doors, through a tunnel of light, and eventually into the cockpit of a futuristic space ship.
"Whoa," Nick gasped. "Very Star Trek-y."
"This, Nick, is the Gummi Ship," Maylin proclaimed. "Built and created by yours truly..."
"...but piloted by me," Haruka cut in.
"...this baby is our ticket to interstellar travel," Maylin finished. "All right, Haruka, fire up that engine and let's get this journey underway!"
Haruka jogged over to one of the three chairs in front of the central computer console and pressed a few buttons. The Gummi Ship rumbled to life and took off through an aquatic blue tunnel of light.
As Nick and Maylin sat down in the adjacent chairs, Nick couldn't help but marvel at the sights of the Lanes Between, even as his mind focused on the journey ahead, where he'd no doubt meet lots of new friends, fight tricky enemies, and hopefully find the people he loved before it was too late.
Ellen... Marie... don't you worry. I'll find you and we'll be back home before you know it, Nick thought, glancing at his keyblade as he prepared for his adventure to truly begin.
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Nick: Well, our first stop is... a normal city.
Maylin: Hold on, is that girl wielding paper as a weapon?! That's so weird!
Haruka: We use giant keys as weapons.
Maylin: ...okay, point.
Nick: My question is, why is miss paper fighting a gigantic kaiju bug? Oh, now I'm suddenly glad Marie isn't here to see this. She despises bugs...
Haruka: Wait, is that Jean-Henri Fabre?
Maylin: The famous French bug researcher?!
Nick: All right, Heartless or not, I think that's a good reason for us to go and investigate. Well, readers, the adventure begins for real next time on Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse, "Read Between the Lines"!
Sophia: May your hearts be your guiding key!
