On Today's Episode: After stopping in Traverse Town to drop off Fox and Skull after the tournament, the trinity realize that someone's watching them. But this watcher doesn't seem to be a Heartless, so what's the deal? Who is this girl who wants to play hide-and-seek across Traverse Town?
Episode 11: Hide and Seek
"You guys have fun now!" Maylin exclaimed as both Skull and Fox (their real names were Ryuji and Yusuke, apparently, according to something Panther had said) joined Panther and Queen in the house they'd been set up in here in the First District. "Well, that was fun."
"Yeah, that Skull guy's a laugh riot," Haruka chuckled.
Just as Sophia was about to explain how she knew the Phantom Thieves, she detected something odd nearby.
Nick looked in the direction that Sophia had stated, and just by the stairway around the Accessory Shop, he noticed a girl about his age standing there.
When their eyes met, she squeaked in surprise and tried to run up the stairs, only to stop at the bottom step in confusion.
Wondering what was going on here, Nick, Maylin and Haruka moved towards the girl, only for her to fall down on her butt and start backing up when a bunch of Heartless started descending the stairs towards her.
"Oh, yeah, like we're going to just let you do that!" Maylin exclaimed as the trinity placed themselves in front of the girl, their keyblades raised towards the incoming Heartless, which mostly consisted of a half-dozen Soldiers and two Large Bodies.
Two of the Soldiers attempted to leap over Maylin, but she simply cast Gravity on them to drop them right back to the ground where they were easy pickings for Haruka, chopping them cleanly in half with one swing each.
The next two Soldiers were obliterated by a quick cast of Thundara from Maylin, raining lightning bolts down on them and damaging the Large Bodies in the process. This allowed Nick to finish the Large Bodies off with a Strike Raid from a distance.
"Please, those guys are easy pickings now that we're more skilled," Nick quipped before turning his attention to the girl they'd seen earlier.
She was about their age, with short, white and green curly hair and glowing red eyes, and was wearing a green coat and gloves on top of a white shirt, as well as a big hat on her head.
"Is everything okay?" Nick asked. "I almost thought we'd scared you off, but you didn't go up the stairs."
"I'm not supposed to ascend," the girl answered. "Otherwise, the Curse of the Abyss will get me. That's what papa always told me before... before he vanished..."
"Oof, that must mean your world was taken by the Heartless," Maylin replied. "Especially if you're here in Traverse Town."
"Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners?" the girl stated before brushing her dress off, smiling, and extending her hand. "Nice to meet you! My name's Prushka!"
Nick smiled as he shook Prushka's hand. "You mentioned something about a 'Curse'?" Nick wondered.
"Yeah, the Curse of the Abyss," Prushka answered. "If a Cave Raider ascends the Abyss, the Abyss will start to affect them in very bad ways."
"Well, I'm pretty sure you're not in the Abyss right now," Maylin responded. "This is Traverse Town, a refuge of sorts for people who've lost their worlds to the Heartless, but somehow survived the attack."
Prushka jogged back to the stairs and began to walk up them slowly, one step at a time, and when she realized she wasn't feeling any dizziness or hallucinations, she did a little happy jump.
"Hey, do the three of you wanna play hide and seek with me?" Prushka asked. "How about this? If you can find me five times in three minutes, I'll give you something cool. What do you say?"
"Why not? I'm sure we've got some time to spare," Nick quipped.
"Yay!" Prushka laughed. "Okay, I'm gonna go hide. Count to ten before you start, and no peeking, okay?"
The trinity nodded, walking to the wall of the Accessory Shop while Prushka headed off to hide.
"Is she going to be okay?" Maylin asked while they were counting down.
"If any Heartless get in our way, we'll smack 'em down like we always do," Nick quipped.
"Yeah, Prushka's got nothing to worry about," Haruka replied.
After counting to ten, the trinity ascended the steps behind the Accessory Shop to begin their game of hide and seek.
("Katachi" by Riko Azuna plays)
"Okay, then, where should we start?" Haruka asked.
Nick glanced upward towards the small vendor stall just outside the back-door of the Accessory Shop, where he'd seen a flash of movement. Nick chuckled as he slowly moved towards the stall and looked down to see Prushka crouching down behind the stall.
"Guess I made that one too easy," Prushka giggled as she scampered off again, the trinity giving her a five second head start before they returned to pursuit.
They entered the Second District, only to just barely see a flash of white-green hair ducking behind an alleyway, but when they rushed there, Prushka wasn't there.
Nick looked around until he noticed another flash of Prushka's hair on the balcony above them. It didn't move, which meant Prushka didn't know they could see her.
Haruka kneeled down so Nick could walk to her, after which Haruka ferried him into the air. Nick caught the balcony ledge and pulled himself up, surprising Prushka.
"Aw, I thought I had you," Prushka giggled as she scampered off again, the trinity giving her another five-second head start.
They moved through the Second District again until they noticed one of the hotel doors having moved. They entered the hotel through the green door, and sure enough, they caught Prushka trying to quickly move through the hallway to the other door and give them the slip.
"Not quick enough, huh?" Prushka chuckled.
After giving her another five seconds, the trinity once again gave chase, this time seeing a flash of movement towards the Third District, so they headed in that direction.
"Doesn't look like there's many places for her to hide around here, huh?" Haruka wondered.
"Yeah, but I'm not seeing her," Maylin replied as they continued to look around.
However, Nick noticed something odd about a statue near the fountain, which depicted three goddesses, one with long brown hair, one with silver hair, and one with black hair.
And Nick saw a bit of white-green hair behind the statue.
"Boo," Nick teased.
"Oh, so close," Prushka quipped as she dashed off to hide one final time. The trinity followed any movement they saw back to the Second District, and eventually through the Alleyway behind the Hotel that also connected to the Secret Waterway.
The trinity searched all around, hoping that Prushka hadn't scampered off into the Secret Waterway, since that would give her an advantage over them, given they only had a minute left to find her again.
But then, Nick heard a small rattling noise from the other end of the Alleyway. Motioning to Maylin and Haruka to stay stealthy, Nick slowly tiptoed towards the other end.
In a smaller alley just behind the Hotel, there were a few large crates stacked in a rather suspicious manner.
And Nick had a pretty good idea why they were stacked that way.
Summoning Dream Traveler to his hands, Nick used it to slowly push one of the crates aside, and sure enough, Prushka was hiding behind the other crates that she'd moved to conceal herself.
"Gotcha," Nick quipped.
"I guess you did," Prushka replied. "Way to go!"
The trinity reconvened with Prushka back in the First District after putting the crates back where they were, as Prushka had moved them to hide.
"Nice job!" Prushka laughed. "That was fun!"
"Hey, Nick, if you need us, Haruka and I are gonna check out the Synthesis Shop that just opened up nearby," Maylin quipped. "We'll see if we can make ya some cool stuff!"
With that said, Maylin and Haruka jogged off to the Synthesis Shop while Prushka sat down on a nearby bench, Nick sitting right next to her.
"I really had a lot of fun playing hide and seek with you!" Prushka laughed. "You three sound like you're really talented explorers."
"From what I can gather, you sound like you wanna be an explorer yourself," Nick answered.
"I was born in the Abyss's fifth layer, so I've always wanted to explore the other layers and the wonders they hold," Prushka admitted. "But, like I said, I really can't do that because of the Curse of the Abyss. That's what my papa is working to fix."
"What exactly does your father do, Prushka?" Nick asked.
"He's a researcher," Prushka answered. "He's been trying to find ways to make it easier for Cave Raiders to explore the Abyss without succumbing to the Curse, or at the very least, minimizing its effects."
"It sounds like he really cares," Nick quipped.
"He does! Papa's a great scientist, and he just wants to pave the way for all the future explorers and raiders who want to uncover the mysteries of the Abyss," Prushka explained.
Prushka looked up to the night sky that covered all of Traverse Town, towards the many stars in the sky that each represented a different world, then looked back at Nick and smiled brightly.
"You know something? I'm glad I met you and your friends," Prushka giggled. "I've never left the Idofront because of the Curse, so I've always wanted to make friends from the outside. And now I have! I already feel a biiiiiiig connection with you guys."
As Prushka talked, Nick suddenly realized something that resonated with Prushka's words about connections.
Connections.
Ever since Nick had received his keyblade, he'd made so many new friends, fought alongside so many different allies, and with every new ally and friend he made, he felt himself growing stronger.
Nick often believed that, keyblade aside, he'd really only gotten as far as he had on this adventure with the help of the people beside him.
His friends.
"Everything okay?" Prushka asked, having noticed that Nick was lost in thought.
"Oh, sorry 'bout that," Nick quipped. "I was just thinking about something you said. And, if I'm being honest, Prushka? I feel a connection with you, too."
"Aw, thank you!" Prushka laughed as she leaped over to hug Nick tightly. "Hey, when my world comes back, you should visit, if you can! I can show you all of the cool stuff that papa's been working on!"
"I think I'll do that," Nick chuckled. "And I'm sure it won't be too much longer before we can visit, because I have a feeling that once my friends and I defeat the guy who's behind all of this, all the worlds that the Heartless have consumed should be restored."
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! I did promise to give you something cool if you beat me in hide-and-seek," Prushka quipped, reaching into her cap, which had a small pocket, and pulling out a small trinket that resembled a whistle-like device sculpted into the shape of two hands clasped together in prayer.
"I modeled it after my papa's White Whistle," Prushka stated. "I hope it brings you luck just like it does my papa!"
Nick smiled at Prushka before attaching the trinket to his keyblade and swinging it upwards, the keyblade transforming mid-swing. Nick's new keyblade had a handleguard shaped like a ring-shaped secret base, most likely the Idofront that Prushka had mentioned, a hilt shaped like another White Whistle, a long blade decorated with ancient runes, and teeth shaped like Prushka's cap. The words Reverberating Abyss ran through Nick's mind as he studied the weapon.
"We're baaaaaaack!" Maylin exclaimed as she and Haruka returned with a few trinkets strapped to their wrists, no doubt stuff they'd created in the Synthesis Shop.
"Ooh, swank new keyblade," Haruka quipped.
"It was my prize for winning Prushka's hide-and-seek game," Nick replied.
"If you ever wanna play hide-and-seek agai9n, just come and talk to me," Prushka proclaimed. "I'm sure I can find some more cool stuff to give you!"
"We'll do that whenever we're around, I'm sure," Maylin replied. "But right now, the worlds are calling. It's time to get back to work!"
"Come back soon, 'kay?" Prushka called as the trinity headed for the exit and the path to their Gummi Ship, already feeling a surge of happiness at the thought of having made new friends so easily.
As the Gummi Ship took off for new horizons, Nick thought back to his conversation with Prushka and the realization he'd had.
All of his thoughts boiled down to one phrase that he knew would resonate with him as long as he wielded the keyblade.
My friends are my power.
To be continued...
New keyblade acquired!
Reverberating Abyss
Strength: 10
MP: +2
Recoil: 20
Critical Rate: 20%
Critical Bonus: +7
Ability: Lightning Boost
Description: A keyblade representing a traveler from an abyss that stretches further than the world. Has long reach, great strength and powerful critical blows, but also raises max MP by 2 and significantly enhances magic and summoning power. Increases damage done by electric attacks by 20%. Equip more to increase the effect.
On the next episode...
Nick: Well, this place is very old-school Japan.
Maylin: That's because I think it is. This is supposed to be the Feudal Era, right?
Haruka: I don't like those strange sounds I'm hearing. Are there monsters here worse than the Heartless?
Nick: And now I'm being told by this strange demon girl who controls wind that I don't belong here because I have a keyblade?!
Haruka: Yeah, if she knows about other worlds, then something's clearly wrong.
Nick: I guess we'll have to see if we can do something about this world's demon problem next time on Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse, "Demons and Humans: A Blurred Line Between Them"! ...for real this time, I swear!
Nick, Maylin and Haruka: May your hearts be your guiding key!