Another story…
Another world…
Another hero…
Another adventure…
Sora awoke suddenly, gasping for air, the moistness of the grass below him causing his clothes to feel sticky. He slowly looked around, his blue eyes illuminated by the sun light's shimmering light. His eyes searched the darkness around him and saw nothing, nothing but Donald and Goofy laying, asleep, upon the ground like he had been. He sighed and laid back onto the grass, placing his left hand behind his head and staring up at the stars.
He had heard that voice again. That voice… that had spoken to him so many times before… speaking of the Keyblade, of the doors, everything. He had heard it speak those words into his mind, none others hearing them as he had. Something was going to happen… he could feel it, something wasn't right tonight… Something bad was going to happen… Something very bad…
"A nightmare?…" Sora heard this new voice and he turned quickly to see who spoke, the figure hidden within a gray cloak that covered his body and face. Sora slowly stood up and started into a battle stance, not wanting to wake the others, but he would if he needed to. The figure merely starred at him and then began to chuckle. "You must be the weakest of them all… I can see it in your eyes… you hold goodness in your heart…" Sora merely stood, slowly bringing his hand up, about to invoke the power of the Keyblade if danger came from this new figure.
"What do you want?…" Sora finally spoke, just loud enough for the other to hear, his hand flinching ready to call the Keyblade into existence. Something felt wrong about this guy… something he just couldn't place…
"Your quick to anger… I like that…" The cloaked figure chuckled. "You have potential… you will be an interesting foe in the battles to come…"
"Battles… battles… what are you talking about? What battles?"
"Why the battle for this world… for this universe…, this plane, whatever you want to call it…" Sora could detect a chuckle coming from within the other's cowl. "You have been chosen… that is why I speak to you and the other remain the same."
"What are you talking about, what about this world, what is this fight?!" Sora was beginning to become angry, he was seconds away from using the key blade now, he didn't like how this guy talked…
"You have so much to learn… so foolish… just as the others are… this shall truly be fun…" Sora gritted his teeth and hollered at him, squeezing his hand and starting to run, the shimmering light of the key blade being invoked appearing in his right hand as he ran, appearing for a brief moment before suddenly disappearing. Sora skidded to a halt as he watched something that he had seen only once… the Keyblade going to another…
"The Keyblade… no…" The shimmering light of the blade becoming existent appeared in the cloaked figures open right hand, the cloak showing his arm in plain view as the Keyblade was invoked by another. The figure held the Keyblade in his hand and chuckled, before a dark mist seamed to appear and surround the blade. Sora's eyes widened in shock as it began to transform.
"Behold… the Plaindriver…" the Keyblade he held glowed with a shimmering silver light, it's shape a smooth and precise, folding in on itself , intricately patterned, very much like the Oathkeaper. The figure chuckled. "So foolish…" He suddenly swung the blade behind him and it seamed to cut into the very fabric of being itself, a tear in mid air formed and spread slowly. "Follow me if you want your blade back… and if you wish to fight for your plain's existence… it's your choice…" before he left, he slid his hood back and showed his face, giving a one sided half smile towards Sora, who knew the face well. He turned and stepped into the tear and continued walking. Sora ran after him, jumping forwards towards the now quickly closing tear, and passed through, it closing mere moments after he had.
None had realized what had just happened… none had seen it or heard it, Donald and Goofy wouldn't know it had happened until morning, by that time it was too late… far too late… They may have already lost their friend… the Sora they knew… may have gone and may never return…
Sora stood in what seamed to be a small arena, none others seamed present within however, he was all alone.
"Where did he go?…" Sora started forwards and slowly walked, his eyes searching his surroundings. The arena seamed to be rather old, very different from the coliseum he had seen where he had fought Hercules… This place was a whole new arena he had never seen before. Where was he?… how did he get here?… and the Keyblade… the Plaindriver, that's what he called it… it had gone to him… and his face… his face was…
"So… are you going to follow me or what kid?" Sora quickly turned and saw the cloaked figure, his hood back up, and Plaindriver in hand. "Your so slow… much slower than the others…" The figure seamed to float several inches off the ground, and suddenly started floating backwards at a quick pace. Sora was after him within moments, entering into a darkened hall way. He didn't think of what may be inside… he just wanted the Keyblade back… They soon exited the hallway and entered another arena, however, it seamed to be filled with darkness, making it difficult for him to see any real length in front of him.
The figure suddenly stopped and turned, chuckling. "Finally, you make it here, and even then, I had to show you the way. Your Plain will be the first… I can see that…"
"What are you talking about?! Give me back the Keyblade!" The figure sneered under his cowl.
"The Keyblade chooses it's master, remember? Or did your little run inn with Riku at Hollow Bastion teach you nothing? It hasn't decided a new master, do not fret… Sora is still it's master…"
"I'm Sora!" Sora yelled, his voice cracking slightly from the emotional strain.
"Are you?… Are you really? Or are you merely one of many? A hero of your plain… No, I doubt you are THE Sora… you are one of many, you are merely A Sora."
"I…I don't understand…" Sora stammered, he didn't get this… it was too much for him, first the Keyblade goes to him, someone who looks just like…
"You don't need to understand child… all you need to know is that you are now the hero of your Plain, the one who will fight for your Plains survival… Not all will survive, very few will actually… but that is not my concern… it is yours…"
"There's…more than one of me?…"
"Yes, more than one of you, and all of your friends…many variations of each of your friends, enemies, everything… and you are merely one. The one chosen from your Plain, the most powerful being from it, chosen to defend it. I hope you are proud of yourself… I almost chose the other…"
"Riku…" Sora spoke his name, somewhat softly, looking away.
"Yes, Riku, his powers are barely beginning to take their true form, his path is not much different than your own… and yet it is radically different… but… you will see your friends soon enough…"
"My…my friends?! I can see them?!"
"In a since… but… they may not recognize you exactly… you will see mere variations from different world of your friends… not the friends you truly knew… some may be similar, some may be totally different than the friends you had, all variations of one person, each different than the other…"
"Why?… what is this?… why is this happening?" Sora stammered, he didn't know how he had been dragged into this… but he didn't like it, all he cared about was getting back… Riku… Kairi… Kairi…
"It is happening because the balance shifted… and now all of the worlds will be destroyed… unless the chosen ones fight for them… I cannot tell you why… all I can tell you is that you do not have much time…" The figure chuckled slightly. "You hold within you a great power, I can see that… very good…"
"What about you?… what is your side in this?… and why do you look like…"
"Do not worry, I am not against you, nor for you… I am neutral, a messenger, one who has brought all of the others together, and one who will show you the path, for now…" He snapped his fingers, and suddenly the room erupted with light, everything able to be seen now. "But first… you should meet the others…"
Sora looked around the area, and his eyes widened, he couldn't believe what he was seeing… It was him, dozens and dozens of others that looked like him, along with others, Kairi, Riku, Cloud, Leon, even Donald and Goofy, King Mickey, everyone… and yet… they all looked slightly different than one another, all of them had a variation upon what Sora saw as his allies. This was unbelievable… it was too much…all too much… he sat down on the ground suddenly, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. The cloaked figure before him laughed. "That's a different expression… interesting, none of the others did such a thing…" Sora shook his head, this couldn't be real… it couldn't be… he had to be dreaming. He finally stood, shaking his head still.
"How…how…"
"How many? There are two hundred plains that I know of… so two hundred different Hero's chosen to protect their worlds. You… you are the last."
"The…the last?"
"The final hero, the very last world to visit." he turned and looked towards all the others. "One hundred and ninety nine warriors do you see before you… they will be your companions, or your enemies, that is both yours and their decision…"
"You said two hundred…"
"I am, of course, one of them…"
"That's why you look… just like…me…"
"Yes…" he slid back his hood and it seamed to be a slightly older looking version of Sora himself, his voice deeper, obviously gone through puberty by that point, however, he didn't look much older than 17 years of age. "That is also why the Keyblade came to me…, because, to it, I am you… merely older…"
"But… I am the Keyblade master…" Sora no longer looked around, he glared slightly at this mirror image of himself. "Give it back…"
"Does it want to go back?… Do you really want it?…"
"Give… it… back…" Sora spoke the words through gritted teeth, a glare on his face.
"Fine…take it…" The figure suddenly thru the Keyblade towards Sora, who reached out and grabbed it, entering a battle stance instantly. Within seconds another key blade appeared in the others hand, and he entered his own fighting stance.
"I'm not going to fight you… there is no way you would win… that not why I brought you here… I brought you here because you were hope…" Sora continued glaring, but slowly shifted back into his normal stance. He was the hero of his world… he had to fight for his world…
"You will need your Keyblade… You'll need it much more than you may know… Only through it can you use the Plaindriver… and only through the Plaindriver can you save the Plains."
"How?…" The other Sora sighed slightly, he had obviously spoken this speech several times, it was getting old now.
"I'm glad you are the last… I hate having to do this whole thing…" Sora had to inwardly chuckle, he was him… he really was… "Within every plain there is a sort of…artifact. Something that represents that plain, something that… makes it what it is, it feeds the plain and gives it power…"
"Like Kingdom Hearts…"
"Yes, very much like Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds, but this is the heart of the Plain, something greater than Kingdom Hearts, something that, if lost, that Plain is destroyed…"
"I…we…have to save the… Heart of the Plain for each world?"
"Yes… with the Plaindriver, you will be able to take with you the Heart of the Plain for each world for a time… and then once accomplished, you will return here."
"Why…why here?…"
"This world is the only protected… the only one that can survive once… the end happens…"
"But…you said we could save the Plains!"
"If you take the heart of the Plains for each Plain… you will."
"How?…" The other Sora rolled his eyes, this one was going to be very high maintenance…"
"We will return them… and they will be made anew."
"But… my friends… what will…"
"Nothing will happen to them… it will be as if nothing at all happened after you take the Heart…"
So we have to travel to each Plain and take it's Heart… then restore it after this 'end' and everything is all right?" The other smiled. Finally he understood… "So…when do we begin?…" A second smile came to his face.
"Now…"