Yoh Asakura - A young, easy-going boy from Destiny Islands. He lost his friends during the destruction of his world, but seeks to find them by traveling to other worlds with Kaiba and Joey. Though a Grade A slacker, he has a powerful heart, which may be why the Keyblade chose him... Yoh first channeled the dead in Shaman King, 1998.
Seto Kaiba - The High Mage General of Domino Castle and a fierce force to be reckoned with. Calculating and cold, he excels in whatever he does, regardless of the means to reach such potential. His memory holds dark events beneath his piercing blue-eyed glare. He first summoned the Blue Eyes White Dragon in Yu-Gi-Oh, 1996.
Joey Wheeler - Captain of the Guard of Domino Castle, and the King's best friend. Optimistic and rash, his loyalty and courage make up for his somewhat slow-paced wit. In any sort of challenge, the amount of luck he displays is nothing if not inspiring. He first winged total victory in Yu-Gi-Oh, 1996.
Myoga - That's me! Myoga the Flea! When my world was destroyed by the Heartless, the King offered me shelter in his castle... or, more technically, the furrier of his many, MANY strange pets, called 'Duel Monsters', or something. To repay my debt to his majesty, I have taken on the duty of chronicling this tale for future generations to enjoy! My only regret is that it makes my participation in battle too risky... a sacrifice I make without complaint. I first tasted the blood of fame in Inuyasha, 1997.
Amidamaru - A samurai who, in life, slew uncountable numbers of his own lord's men before being taken down. Much about him is still a mystery, including the truth behind his legend, how he knows Yoh, and why Yoh remembers nothing about him. However confused the two are, though, they share a bond stronger than lost memories can break. Amidamaru first became Yoh's blade in Shaman King, 1998.
Regal Bryant - President of Lezerano Inc., one of the three dukes of Tethe'alla, and a tried murderer, Regal is a mystery within a mystery. He continues to wear the shackles he asked to be placed on him, even after being pardoned of his crime, viewing them as the symbol of his sin. He fights with reinforced greaves on his feet, and is highly skilled, very passionate chef. His pride pulled him through in Tales of Symphonia, 2004.
0X0X0
(Flashback)
"My name is Raine Sage, and I'm an associate of Regal Bryant. He's busy at the moment, but feel free to ask me any questions you had intended for him."
Kaiba handed the letter to the white-haired woman, a wary expression on his face. He sensed an abnormal aura around her, and her eyes were similar to his in the way they analyzed everything around them. "We're looking for the King. Our only leads so far are written in this message."
"And since we've sorta found Regal, all we need now is information on this 'Key' thing." Joey added, taking a bite from the tough bood item on his plate. "Er, no offense, Ms. Sage, but this steak ya cooked is a bit too salty..."
"That's a piece of cake, actually." Raine commented. Joey stopped eating immediately as she continued, " the Heartless destroy worlds by finding the 'Keyhole' to the foor to a world's heart. According to legend, their exists a magical sword in the shape of a key, the Keyblade, which is both the ultimate weapon to wield against the Heartless and the only way to 'lock' the Keyhole to a world's heart. The Heartless fear this outcome above all else, and will be attracted to the weapon, seeking to destroy its wielder. For that, the Keyblade itself will choose who wields it, seeking a heart pure and strong enough to prevail over such odds."
Kaiba nodded, his mind memorizing these facts as Myoga scribbled them down atop his shoulder. "It sounds vague, but when the King investigates things like this, they're usually true. Is there anything else?"
Raine frowned, thinking for a moment. "...Hao."
"How what?" Joey asked.
"No, Hao, H.A.O. It's the name of someone I read about. He was the king of a castle in a far off world, and resaerched the Heartless throughly before that world was taken, as well. It's rumored that he escaped, however, and that the pages of the report were scattered to many other worlds..."
"Come to think of it, the King once mentioned meeting a ruler named Hao, but said he was a little kid..." Kaiba said.
"He WAS only around 8 when his world was taken 6 years ago. He was a child genius, but that just means it'll be harder tosearch for him."
"Then the King must be searching for those pages!" Joey exclaimed, standing up with his fist shaking in excitement. "If we look for em, we're bound to run into him."
The duster wearing mage made to say some insult, but it was cut off by the sound of a breaking window in the other room...
(Flashback over)
X0X0X
Yoh gaped as he viewed the large vessal before him. Though it was obviously made of many, many differently shaped blocks, the machine before him looked like the head of a white-skinned dragon with bright blue eyes, it's mouth revealing several weapons painted red like a tongue.
"The pride of Domino Castle's Gummi Hanger, the Blue Eyes White Gummi Ship. I built it myself." Kaiba said, using as much humility as was in his nature. "The eyes are barrier-emitting gummies, while four Thundara-G cannons are it's tongue. The two 'tusks' on the sides of it's mouth are Ultima Lasers, albeit a bit different from the standard variety..."
"Meaning he made illegal modifications to send their energy through the cannons, instead, so it's like a laser-breathin' dragon." Joey whispered to his open-mouthed friend. "I'd rat em' out, if it wasn't so darned cool!"
"It seats three, though I have another Gummi Ship design for it to Transform into, which will seat up to seven." The spellcastor continued, apparantly not hearing Joey's comment. "I have four medium engines as the tail, it's body is solid Dispel-G armor, and it has several wings attached to both sides, yielding the illusion of only two." Here he turned, with a demonic glint in his eyes, to his partners. "Touch the wheel, and I can't be held responsible for whatever parts you lose."
"... I don't understand half of that, but this thing is a ship, right?" Yoh finally said, causing the other two to facefault.
"Yes." The engineer of said ship stated, slightly surprised at the Joey-like comment from the Keyblade master. "Gummi ships allow us to travel between the vast range of interdimensional space to reach other worlds. Now get in; we have a lot ahead of us, kid."
"HEY! How come I'm a dog, and he's just a kid, when even I could think of calling him a 'sloth'?" Joey griped as they entered the ship.
"Your brain grows more moss in it than a sloth's fur, anyway."
"Oh, BRILLIANT comeback, Mr. Blue Eyes White God Complex!"
"Are you twoalways like this?" Yoh asked, strapping himself to the red chair on the right side of the cockpit.
"They haven't even started, Yoh." Myoga sighed, leaping onto the headphone-adorning head. "My advice is to just phase it out."
00000
The young shaman had been impressed by the ease of his first jouney in a Gummi Ship, eagerly watching as wave after wave of Heartless vehicles vanished in explosions and the stars to either side zoomed by. He had been even more amazed that, in the entire time they flew, fending off Heartless and dodging deadly pillars of space junk, Seto and Joey were STILL arguing, exchanging name after senseless name. However, what startled him the most was that in one instant, he went from sitting in his seat to being facedown on the ground.
Yoh felt Joey lifting him up, and answered his concerned expression with a wide grin. "That was AWESOME! But what happened, and how come we're suddenly shipless?"
"Eh, sorry 'bout that.." the blonde one apologized. "We shoulda' told ya'; Gummi Ships warp their riders to safe places on a planet's surface, in the event there isn't a hangar on the world."
"We'll call it back after searching for the King." Kaiba stated, currently looking around the the tree-filled area. "Does something feel... different about this place?"
Joey looked at a tree close tohim, and took an apple from what appeared to be a fusebox. "Not that much. Think this is safe ta' eat?"
Before answering, the mage thwacked the apple from it's position, already halfway to Joey's open mouth. "No."
"I too feel something unusual in this place, General." Amidamaru said, appearing from the tablet in Yoh's jacket. "Though it appears normal, this entire forest is devoid of organic life; artificial."
Yoh picked up the fallen fruit, seeing many odd, glowing cracks from where it had been struck, and nodded. "I think I see a lot of zeroes and ones in here, guys... that's not normal, right?"
"Not unless we're all in some kinda' video game, or a cyber-world where black-coated guys can appear out of nowhere." Joey said rationally. At that moment, a small squad of Shadows came up from the ground around them, and the others glared at their shield-bearing friend. "Right...stop talking."
Yoh cut through two of them, ending his combo with a swing that sent one clean into the air. Kaiba shot a Fire toward that one, blasting it away, then stuck his staff through one more. Joey leapt onto the remaining opponant, hie shield flattening the thing before it vanished. Unfortunatly, several dark flashes brought a group of Soldiers into the mix, too.
"How do these things keep coming out of nowhere!" Yoh shouted, cutting another in two.
"The Shadows can pop up outta' nowhere in a world that's being infested, and the others can teleport to where they sense stuff!" Joey answered, flinging two more troops away. They crashed into the same tree he had examined earlier, their claws cutting into several apples... and, after several seconds of electrocution, were destroyed. "... Uh, Kaiba? You didn't see that."
Kaiba 'hmphed', then shouted, "Thunder!" Multiple thin streaks of lightning turned the straggling Heartless into vapor. "To conclude the mutt's lesson, new Heartless can get here in their own Gummi Ships, and they appear much as we did when we entered this world. That's why it's important to destroy as many as possible on trips between worlds."
Another flash came, this one alone, but much bigger than the others. Yoh glared at this new creature, which he classified as a highly overweight Soldier. "You think that guy ate a bunch of high-cholesterol hearts?"
"Yoh-dono, allow me to take this one!" Amidamaru said, reappearing. "Battling large foes is no mystery to me."
"Got it! Amidamaru, Spirit Form! Unity!"
Yoh didn't show his surprise at how much faster the merge went than last time, nor how closer the integration was; he merely leapt forward, swinging the Keyblade in a large arc as it struck his foe.
He wound up on his back again, his weapon still vibrating in his hand. "What? How did that happen?"
"This one seems to be protected against frontal attacks." Kaiba said, a smirk appearing on his face as he pulled what looked like a deck of cards from his pocket. "Well, that gives me an excuse to-"
"Lightning Claw!"
The Large Body vanished in another flash, and a small shape landed in front of where it stood. As the sorceror reluctantly put away his cards, the group looked closer at their benefactor... and saw a cat.
It stood upright, it's entire body covered in snow white fur. with large blue eyes and yellow gloves over it's claws. Purple stripes adorned certain areas of it's torso and tail.
A long, uncomfortable pause came, during which Amidamaru returned to his portable grave. Finally, Yoh grinned. "Hey, thanks for the help, little guy."
"I'm a girl, actually." The cat said, continuing as the others stepped back in surprise. "The name's Gatomon. You three looked like you needed help, so I thought I'd lend a claw."
"Again, thanks! My name's Yoh, the shield guy's Joey, and the staff guy's Kaiba." The Keyblade guy said, already recovering from the surprise of meeting a talking cat. "And, I know this sounds weird, but do you know where we are?"
"Actually, I was guessing you'd ask that; not many humans come here, after all." She admitted, smiling in away that made her appear even more catlike. "This is the Digital World, and I'm a Digimon. A Champion Vaccine Digimon, to be precise. This world and everything in it is made of computer data, to get that question out of the way-"
"I KNEW IT!" Joey yelled triumphantly. "Cyber-world with black-coated guys coming outta' nowhere! I bet 'Digimon' is just another term for 'Age-'"
THWACK! Joey fell to the ground, out cold. Kaiba placed his slightly bent staff back in his coat. "Forgive the idiot. He still hasn't recovered from our castle's last movie marathon. Tell me, have you encountered creatures like the ones we just fought before?"
"Trust me, pal; fighting weird creatures is like breathing in this world." She answered, still staring as Joey started recovering. "But those things are relatively new here. They've only shown up in the past few days, though the Emperor's discovered his rings can control them just as well as Digimon, and they've been showing up around every Control Spire we try and take down."
"Emperor? You mean you DO have some dark-cloaked guy controlling everything?" Yoh asked, his mind going back to the day before, when he met that stranger in the cave.
Gatomon shook her head, anger evident as she started scowling. "He isn't really dark-cloaked, but he's trying his best at the control part! If his rings attach to a Digimon, he takes control of it, and his Control Spires power the rings! Those weird things also get controlled, so he's been doubling up his army everywhere!"
"Does it seem ominous this sounds familiar?" Joey asked, rubbing his head as he stood up. "'Cuz I coulda' sworn you just described half the guys me and Kaiba have fought in the past."
"Same game, different way." Kaiba agreed. "I guess dark minds think alike... so, are you planning something like this?"
"Stop arguing." Yoh said, though he obviously fused with Amidamaru, again even faster than the last time. "There are more coming."
As soon as he finished, almost a dozen flashes occured, and each dropped a Soldier... but it was different than usual. The aura around each one was stronger than the ones from earlier, their yellow eyes glowed red, and each had a black ring around either an arm or leg.
"I guess they get stronger when equipped with those rings." Kaiba growled. "Blizzard!"
Two of the enemies froze, but quickly broke free from their icy prison, and leapt for the mage. Yoh leapt over Kaiba, destroying them both, then started parrying as five charged him at once. "We have to spread out, or they'll take us down!"
"Easier said than done." Joey called back, hardly able to attack as he rushed his shield to a defensive stance, blocking his own assailant's moves.
"Lightining Claw!" Gatomon cried again, slashing another foe to oblivion. As she landed, she flipped back to claw up another Soldier that had charged as she was distracted. Kaiba realized the problem with his magic in time to save himself; he bent his weapon's wound from Joey's head back into place, then tried another Blizzard, with much better results.
"I'll end this! Celestial Slash!" Yoh swung his blade, and the same red arc of energy that totaled the Guard Armor ended the strengthened Soldiers. Amidamaru exited his host again, and the three humans knelt down, exhausted. "Heh... we haven't even left this small part of the forest and we're worn out."
Rustling grass caused them to tense again, dreading another fight, but this time it wasn't a Heartless that appeared. It was a human, a girl around Yoh's age. She had short brown hair, wore a pink and white outfit, and had a digital camera around her neck. Gatomon smiled, running up to her. "Kari!"
"Sorry I didn't make it here faster, but it looks like nothing went wrong. Oh, who are these guys?" She said, glancing curiously at the tired trio. "Humans? Uh, you guys didn't get pulled through a computer, did you?"
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if we did." Joey replied, suspiscion beginning to grow.. he quickly dropped his Matrix theory, though, apon seeing Kaiba wiping his staff with the edge of his duster. "Er, I mean... no. Did you?"
"As much as it smacks the laws of physics in the face, yes... it's how me and my friends enter the Digital World. Oh, right, I didn't get your names!"
XXXXX
A few miles away, amidst the lound sounds of contruction outside of the totally dark building he was in, a young man laughed, watching the introductions of the newcomers. "So, that's the group that weird baboon warned me about? I admit, they're strong, but they seem to be even less coordinated than those annoying Digidestined!"
"Master?" A mumbling, submissive voice came from near the foot of the dark youth. "I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe it would be safer to take over the Digital World without these Heartless guys?"
"As I've said before, Wormmon, I am not deviating from my original plan." The boy answered coldly. "In fact, now I can take that key, as well, and use it's power for myself!
As the human fell into a fit of maniacal laughter, the voice deemed Wormmon sighed sadly.
00000
Joey: Joey Wheeler here, the Guard with all da' cards! Well, a lot, anyway... Kaiba's staff may sting, but I think THESE bad bugs'll do a whole lot more than that! Huh? This Emperor kid is using Digimon to guard his giant Heartless while he does something that'll let him take over the world? That jerk! He knows we can't attack the Digimon under his control, or they're toast! And who's this wise guy in the ninja suit? Furyo-what? Sheesh, Yoh, you have a lotta weirdos following ya...
Next time, on Spirit of the Heart: An Emperor's Fate is 'Sealed.' And what was that weird locking sound? This is turnin' into one big puzzle...
Chapter posted: March 2nd, 2005.