Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
Chapter 7: Realm of Sleep part I
Following the party, Sora was given a few days to prepare for her Mark of Mastery. Though it took a lot of convincing, Sora's mother finally accepted her daughter going on another 'extended trip'. Despite there being no clear point of when she would return, the brown-haired teen was quite resolute about it. For which, her mother could only accept this decision. But not before charging the other teens with taking care of Zola and Ursa, as she too had business to handle within town.
As Sora looked to Master Yen Sid with a slow nod, she laid down upon a soft bed. Them being within the side chamber of the Sorcerer's tower, just beyond his main office space. "Alright...I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Sora whispered softly with a small smile, looking to Riku and Kairi just a few steps away.
The pair wanting to wish their friend luck before they started on their own missions. While no words were exchanged between them, the simple nods and expressions of determination were all that were needed. Sora quickly gaining a smile as a result, to which she slowly closed both eyes. The sound of Yen Sid's voice echoed through her ears and mind, as darkness took her sight. "Once you reach sleep, focus your magic forward. I will guide you to the Realm of Sleep."
With these words ringing true, Sora drifted off to sleep thanks to a spell cast on her. Upon which, the darkness then took her mind and she found herself drifting downward. Not too unlike what she experienced all that time ago on Destiny Islands. But things swiftly changed, as the teen began exuding her magic outward and created a soft aura of light around her. In an instant, an invisible force swiftly began pulling Sora further down at an extremely rapid pace.
Previously, it was like she was slowly drifting down to the bottom of a body of water. Now however, it was as though she was falling from the sky with a weight tied to her, pulling the teen faster and faster down. 'This is weird...' she thought to herself a little nervously as her instinct was to try and slow her decent.
Though no bottom was in sight, there was a cracking sound that was heard coming from all directions. At the same time, a series of crawling lines of white started to form in the darkness around the teen. But before she could question what was happening, there was an echoing shatter as the shadows instantly gave way to a bright blue sky. While blinding at first, Sora's eyes gradually adjusted and she was able to take in the scenery.
Across the sky were small signs of fluffy white clouds, a few of which she fell through while continuing to plummet. Where she was falling to though, was swiftly visible as the town below was a familiar one. "Wait...Traverse Town?" she uttered out, there not being nearly as much wind resistance as she was expecting.
As the streets rushed up to meet her, Sora flipped around to land feet first. Thanks to a quick casting of Aero magic, she was able to touch down gracefully with little impact or sound. As the girl looked around curiously though, she couldn't help but arch a brow in confusion. 'Did it actually work? I've come to this world before, so how can it be one of the 'sleeping worlds'?' she questioned inwardly, looking down and tapping her chin in thought.
'Although...' she started, glancing around slowly to the entirely empty area around her.
'...there isn't anyone here from the looks of it.' the teen continued while looking back down.
'Mickey mentioned that there would be people in these dream worlds. They're supposed to be projections of the real people whom are currently dreaming. So if that's the case...just where is everyone?' Sora mused as her eyes slowly narrowed in suspicion.
As these thoughts flooded her mind, the girl didn't notice a figure approaching from the side. Them appearing to be a rather lanky teenager, likely a year or so younger than Sora. He had spiky orange hair, with a set of purple headphones placed on his head. The boy wore a sleeveless, purple-grey shirt with a high collar, as well as similarly colored shoes. He also sported a yellow sweatband on his left wrist, which peaked over the pocket of his baggy, white shorts as he had both hands stowed away within them. His blue eyes were focused on the girl with a scanning gaze, as if trying to see if he somehow knew her.
"Hey..." the boy spoke up suddenly, making Sora turn toward him with a somewhat surprised jolt.
"...are you 'Sora'?" he continued, looking her over once more as he seemed to think he had the right person.
Sora herself was silent for a brief second, before she then just offered a small smile. "That's me." was her simple and casual response.
"And you are?" Sora continued with an ever so slight tilt of her head.
Rather than responding though, both teens simply took this moment to examine one another. The orange-haired boy glancing to the girl's left hand, both his eyes slightly narrowed as he appeared to realize something. All the while, Sora herself was giving the other teen a contemplative stare. Though her suspicions of him weren't visible on her face, she was very skeptical nonetheless. 'He's definitely looking for someone, but not me specifically. But then how and why does he know my name?' she mused to herself before the boy finally responded.
"Looks like you're not a player." he stated in a silent sigh of disappointment, lifting his left hand up to rub his chin thoughtfully.
"Indeed not." Sora claimed back, swiftly looking to the boy's hand, as he had been doing for her.
Seemingly projected from his very palm were a series of numbers that gradually appeared to be counting down. While she couldn't get a great look at the amount of time he had remaining, she could tell from his demeanor that he was in a hurry. "Are you running out of time?" she questioned, raising a brow.
"Yeah...and I need to find my game partner before the timer hits zero." he answered, glancing to the side briefly as if hoping to see said person by sheer chance.
'Sounds a bit rough, especially with how big this town is.' Sora thought while continuing to stare at the boy for a few moments.
"In that case, how about I help you look for them?" she suggested as a soft smile formed on her face, sounding entirely honest in her words.
This genuinely took the boy by surprise, making him blink many times in confusion. "Wait, what? Time out." he started, holding up his hands to create a 'T' with them.
"Do you trust every total stranger you meet?" he continued, sounding highly suspicious of how quick she was to offer him assistance.
"No...but once I know your name, we won't be strangers anymore, right?" Sora claimed with a quick wink, her smile simply widening afterwards.
The other teen couldn't help but give her a long stare in response. He was trying not to be surprised, but didn't seem to trust his expressions as he turned away from the girl. "Fine, just don't slow me down." he uttered out in a near huff.
"I won't." Sora answered in a cheerful manner, though her expression was one of suspicion.
'I need to find out how he knew me before I even arrived.' the girl continued inwardly with a slightly narrowed gaze.
"It's Neku...the name is Neku Sakuraba." the boy added silently while still faced away, almost as if he was trying to whisper it.
"Oh~, that's a really cool name." Sora stated in an impressed manner, her mistrustful expression swiftly being replaced by an intrigued one.
"Hmph...whatever." Neku huffed as he swiftly rushed off; "Come on, keep up!" he called out from over his shoulder.
The orange-haired boy then leapt into the air, as a magical aura surrounded his body, to which he zoomed through the air at rapid speed. Spinning around one of the trees in the town square, then sliding up the railing of the stairs, and finally up to the rooftops. Sora just watched all this with a small grin, to which her own form took on a yellow aura with sparks of lightning flashing throughout. "Oh don't worry..." she started before vanishing.
In the next moment, the girl was directly beside Neku as he rushed across one of the roofs. "...I will." she finished with wink before shooting on ahead.
As the boy watched this, he just blinked many times as he was once again a bit surprised by the girl. Whom, with one powerful leap, landed gracefully upon the wall that separated the First District from the Second. Neku glanced up at this for a moment before to the surrounding area, clearly plotting a path to take reach the same spot as Sora. Jumping onto the side of a building, the teen spring boarded himself onto another, then another and then another until he finally reached the top and flipped onto the wall beside the girl.
Sora herself offered him a small smile and nod, to which they both looked out across the Second District. Just like with the First though, there wasn't anyone in sight. "It must be..." the brown-haired teen whispered silently.
"Hmm? What?" Neku asked with a raised brow, placing both hands in his pockets.
"Nothing, just thinking." Sora began, yet turned her gaze back to the boy and offered another small smile.
"I must say though, you're pretty good. That technique you used to move so smoothly is really impressive. Is it some sort of magic?" she questioned curiously, tilting her head to the side.
Neku went silent after this, a clear sense of conflict was visible within his eyes. Yet as the girl was about to speak further, he finally offered his answer. "Something like that, yeah. We call it; "Flowmotion'." he stated while looking down in thought, almost appearing as if he was remembering something he had forgotten.
"It's a quick means of travel, as it propels you forward with rapid speed. Though it can also be used to fight if needed." Neku added, despite his gaze and expression seeming somewhat distant as he spoke.
Sora's eyes narrowed on the boy once more, yet she offered a slow nod of her head. "It definitely sounds really handy and cool." she began in an upbeat manner, snapping the boy out of his thoughts.
"Hey, how about you teach me how to use this 'Flowmotion' after we find your game partner?" she requested as a small grin curled her lips, leading for Neku to just blink as a result.
While he opening his mouth to possibly refuse, he just became quiet once more. His eyes seeming to be looking at Sora, but also through her, as if he was thinking about someone else entirely. The girl herself decided to wait for him this time though, especially when he turned to the side and avoided eye contact. "Sure, whatever." he uttered out after a few moments, nodding briefly afterwards.
Seeing and hearing him say this, Sora had to hold back the urge to laugh. 'It kinda reminds me of when Riku used to use 'whatever' as his catchphrase.' she mused to herself while turning to the side in order to hide her grin.
"Anyway, I've already checked the First District and most of the Second." Neku spoke up quickly, returning back to his search.
Sora gradually turned back to him, her expression suddenly hard to read as she made her next inquiry. "Where do you think we should try next?"
"Probably the Third District." the boy replied, glancing toward said area from over his shoulder.
This leading for him to miss Sora's immediate glare in his direction, yet it was already gone by the time he turned to face her once more. "That sounds good to me." she said softly as a small smile curled her lips.
'Whomever told him my name must be there. And though it'll be like walking into a trap, I do need to find out who knew I would be here, even before I did.' Sora thought, to which she glanced to the side.
"We should probably go check out the back alley first though. It's a little out of the way, so you probably wouldn't notice it unless you knew it was there already." she suggested aloud, pointing toward the long hotel building.
"It's just on the other side of that." the girl continued, earning a curious gaze from Neku as he swiftly used Flowmotion to leap onto the roof of this hotel.
Upon which, he then looked down to the street below and jumped down. Sora though, remained where she was and let out a soft breath. 'I feel like I'm lying to him, even when I'm not.' she thought with a somewhat guilty expression on her features.
This was instantly replaced with a battle-ready look however, when she felt a presence appear behind her. Sora's right hand flinched ever so slightly as she almost summoned her Keyblade instinctively. Though, she slowly relaxed and began walking forward to follow after Neku. "Aw~, you're just gonna ignore me after noticing my arrival? Aren't you the cold one." a boy's voice spoke up from behind the girl.
"Sorry, but I do wanna check and see how Neku is doing." Sora responded with a shrug as she continued forward.
"Besides, you're always free to follow me." she added, glancing over her shoulder toward he source of the voice.
"A 'walk and talk' it is then." the boy said in an amused tone, coming up beside Sora.
"The name's Joshua, it's nice to meet you Sora."
And so the Mark of Mastery begins~! Since Riku is no longer a factor, the way Twilight Town is incorporated in this part will be changed. But I hope all of you enjoy regardless and let me know what you thought. Until next time.