Nate pushed the large doors to the second district open, wondering if it was just his power armour assisted strength or if they were deceptively light, before allowing Sora and Ciri through before closing the door. He doubted these doors would stop those monsters from getting in but hey, better than nothing. Surveying their surroundings he noticed the Hotel to their left, the large building directly opposite and he swore he could hear running water coming from the lower level.
A scream from the right drew their attention as a man, dressed in clothes that would have suited actual Minutemen, stumbled and fell as he made it up the stairs from the lower level. Ciri made an attempt to reach him but could only watch as the terrified man vanished into darkness leaving a crystalized heart. The heart was then also swallowed by darkness, transforming it into a strange creature wearing knight's armour.
"What the hell just happened?!" Nate yelled, drawing the laser pistol from his waist. Ciri unsheathed her sword as Sora held the Keyblade at the ready. The new armoured creature was soon joined by more of the shadows forcing the three to group together.
"Dammit we can't let these things get into the first district" Nate swore, blasting a pair of shadows trying to sneak up on Sora. Ciri seemed to blink through the swarm, appearing in flashes of green as she stabbed and slashed any shadow unfortunate enough to get in her way.
"How's she doing that? Dammit what have I gotten dragged into now?" Nate thought as he brought an armoured boot down, crushing another shadow as Sora cut the knight creature in half.
Seeing that their enemies just kept coming, Nate ordered the group to make a break for the Hotel. "We need some cover. Stick close, I'll clear a path" putting the suit to good use, Nate barreled through the ever growing horde, flattening any enemy in his path as he aimed for the Hotel doors. Sora and Ciri stuck close, striking at any shadow that tried to retaliate.
Throwing open the doors Nate turned and provided covering fire while the others rushed inside. Slamming the doors shut Sora leant against the wall to catch his breath. "Those things, they're the same monsters from my island" he said between breaths.
"Guess this place isn't as safe as we hoped." Ciri said, checking her sword for any chips or cracks. "Those things might not be very strong but they love to gather together. At times like this being able to use Witcher signs would be very useful"
"Speaking of witchcraft, what was that back there?" Nate asked, gesturing towards Ciri. "I've seen teleportation before but that took an incredible amount of technology"
"I'm not surprised, it's not exactly common on my world either" Ciri admitted, moving to sit next to Sora "Let's just say I have 'special' blood, it grants me abilities, while also painting a bloody target on my back" she explained, earning an awed look from Sora.
"Wait so you have magic?" he asked, eyes shining in delight before looking confused and turning to Nate "Wait if you don't have magic then how does your weapon work?"
Before he could explain how his weapon was actually a laser and how that worked, there came the sound of battle from outside. The sound of clashing steel and (what sounded like) gunfire interrupting the conversation. Quickly jumping to her feet, Ciri readied her sword. "Sounds like we're not the only ones having a bad day"
"We need to help them!" Sora said, rushing back out the doors before Nate could stop him. "Don't rush ahead dammit!" Nate swore before following him into the fray.
Sophie gracefully dodged one of the knight's wild strikes before blasting it back with a point blank shot to the face "This is not a good" she thought "My stamina was already low from their attack on my world, if they keep attacking like this…" lashing out with her yo-yos she reduced three more shadows to wisps of darkness. Beside her Jaune shield bashed another knight as Aerith unleashed a fireball, it had been quite a surprise when Aerith had revealed she was more than capable of defending herself but she was glad for the extra help.
"Keep pushing to the stairs, the hotel isn't far!" Aerith told them, dispatching a shadow who made the mistake of thinking she was easy prey. Sophie prepared to attack a newly spawned knight when it was struck by a burst of red light, dissipating into smoke and a glowing heart. The echo of this attack drew her allies' attention as they traced the attack's origin. Standing on the upper level in front of the hotel was a large armoured figure holding an unusual looking gun. Beside him were two people, one a boy with very spiky hair and the other a young looking woman with white. The two moved at the same time leaping down from the ledge and stabbing down with their swords, each reducing another of the beasts to shadowy mist.
As these new arrivals continued their attack on the monsters, Sophie took the opportunity to regroup with Jaune and Aerith. "Are these your friends?" He asked. Aerith shook her head "No, they're most likely survivors like you" her gaze drifted to the boy, and the weapon he wielded. "The Keyblade"
"The whatblade?" Jaune asked, plunging his sword into a shadow as Aerith began to push towards the new arrivals. "I'll explain later but right now we can't let that boy fall."
"We'll need to clear a path through these guys first. Sophie, can you use your 'persona' again?" Jaune asked. "Maybe. I've used a lot of stamina already" she admitted, preparing to fire her blaster. Looking contemplative Jaune sheathed his sword before placing his hand on her shoulder. "Ok don't freak out, I've got an idea" closing his eyes he began to glow, the light spreading from his hand to her. As the light covered her she could feel her stamina begin to return, not only that but she could swear that Pandora felt stronger somehow.
Summoning her persona once more, causing her allies to stare in surprise and the shadows in caution. "Makouga!" A wide burst of light struck the assembled mass of monsters, easily banishing them. Recovering quicker than her companions, the white haired woman resumed attacking the remaining enemies "Don't just stand there gapping like a bloody Troll, finish this!"
Snapping out of their surprise they moved to assist, their combined efforts easily destroying the remaining enemies. As the boy sliced the last knight in half Sophie allowed herself to relax, beside her she could hear Jaune's breathing begin to level out. Whatever he had done to help her seemed to have taken some of his stamina, she'd have to ask later right now Aerith gestured for them to follow.
"Sophie" Jaune began, causing her to look back "That was..awesome". Once more displaying 'happy' eyes she replied "Praise accepted"
Sora stifled a laugh as he watched everyone try and fit into Aerith's room, Nate especially looking awkward as he had to back up into a corner to try to make space for the others. Once everyone was in place Aerith began to address them all.
"As you're all aware by now, there are many different worlds right?" she asked, earning a few nods before continuing "They were originally separated from each other, but then the Heartless arrived"
"You mean those shadows?" Sophie asked, earning a nod from Aerith. "Yes, the Heartless are beings of pure Darkness. Those who have lost their hearts and are now driven to seek out the hearts of others"
"So magic zombies. Yeah sure, why not?" Nate muttered sarcastically. "And I thought the Grimm were bad." Jaune said, causing Sora to wonder just what his world was like.
"It's not just the hearts of people that they seek, however they also hunger for the hearts of worlds" Aerith explained, causing Ciri's eyes to widen. "That's what happened to our worlds isn't it? They…'ate' the hearts of our worlds"
"So our worlds are really gone?" Sophie asked, her visor removed allowing Sora to see her downcast expression. "I'm afraid so, just as my world was 10 years ago. But there is still hope" Aerith replied, the group seeming to jolt as one.
"Hope? You mean…we can get our worlds back?" Jaune asked, almost afraid to speak in case the answer was no. "That's right, but to do that you need the 'key'. Fortunately for all of us, it seems to have found us" Aerith replied, staring meaningfully at Sora.
Immediately Sora raised the Keyblade, drawing everyone's attention. "Wait, you were being literal with the key thing?" Nate asked, while Ciri found herself intrigued by the strange weapon. Almost as if it was resonating with the magic of her elder blood.
"That's right, the Keyblade. It is the only thing that can permanently kill a Heartless, freeing the heart trapped by the darkness. This causes them to both fear it, and seek its wielder's heart to destroy it."
"Wait, I never asked for this!" Sora said, looking at the Keyblade like one would a live grenade. "This should be with someone else, someone stronger". Aerith shook her head sadly "I'm sorry Sora, the Keyblade chooses its wielder and it will not allow anyone else to use its power" holding her hand out, Sora hesitantly let her take the Keyblade. It remind there for a second before vanishing in a flash of light, returning to his hand.
"Only the Keyblade and its chosen wilder can stop the Heartless, and restore the worlds" she finished, Sora collapsed back into his chair overwhelmed. "I can't..I can't do this alone. Riku..Kairi..I.."
"Hey who said you were going alone?" Nate asked, Sora's head snapping up as he stared in surprise. "I know what it's like to have a destiny forced upon you, I had people I trusted to help me and so will you" Ciri added, Sora felt tears forming as he quickly tried to wipe them away.
"Fighting the creatures of darkness to save the world? I was kinda already doing that anyway" Jaune agreed as Sophie bounced in place "My friends always try to help people, and if they were here they'd want to help you too."
Having wiped away the tears Sora gave them a grateful smile "All right let's do it. Let's go save our worlds!" Raising the Keyblade heroically the others offered their own cheers "How do we do that?" Sora cheerfully asked, bringing the moment to a screeching halt, causing Jaune and Nate to face palm and Ciri to snort with laughter.
Suppressing her own chuckle Aerith continued her explanation "You will need to find the source of the Heartless and seal it with the Keyblade, this will allow the worlds taken by them to return. You will need to travel across the worlds searching for its location, be sure to seal the worlds keyholes as you go"
"The world's what now?" Jaune asked as Ciri and Nate began discussing plans for their travels. "As I said the worlds have hearts too and they can be accessed by their keyhole. If the Heartless find it they can enter through it and devour the heart, but the Keyblade can seal it and prevent the Heartless from ever reaching it" she replied.
"Okay so the plan so far is; search other worlds for clues about the Heartless origin ("And our friends" Sophie added) while sealing their keyholes to prevent any more worlds being lost in the meantime" Jaune said "It's a little vague but we can figure out more as we go"
"Oh I almost forgot" said Aerith "Have any of you ever heard of Ansem?" getting various negative replies she continued "Ansem was the leader of our world, a great scientist who studied the Heartless when the first began to appear. He created a report detailing all he uncovered about them"
"Well Vesemir always did stress the importance of knowing your enemy" Ciri replied "Do you have a copy of this report with you?". Aerith however shook her head "Sadly it was lost and scattered across the worlds when the Heartless overran my home. But if you should find any pages of it on your journey they could prove useful"
"So a secret report about some scientist studies into the heart eating monsters. God I hope he wasn't like the scientist back home" Nate said, earning a few concerned and curious looks.
"Okay so we have a starting point, now we just need a way to travel to other worlds" Sophie stated. Before Aerith could offer a suggestion the sound of a radio crackled into life "Aerith…Aerith are you there we need you!"
Quickly making her way to the nightstand next to the bed, Aerith grabbed the radio and answered "I'm at the hotel Yuffie, what's wrong?"
"We're at the first district, a massive wave of Heartless is making its way here and we need you to help protect the people. Leon thinks this is a sign that a 'leader' has shown up, we need to take it out but we can't leave this district undefended"
"I'm on my way, and don't worry about the 'leader' I think I've found some help" turning to the assembled group she asked "I know we're already asking a lot from you, but please, we need to end this now before they break through"
"Don't worry we'll find the boss, we won't let them take another world" Sora agreed as the others prepared their weapons. "Thank you. I'd try searching the third district, it can't be in the first and we'd know if it was here in the second" she offered, grabbing her staff and leading the way out.
Existing the hotel she pointed to an alleyway just past the stairs to the lower level "Follow that path it will take you straight to the third district. Take this too" she said offering a large bottle with green liquid inside "It's a Mega potion, use it if you are injured"
Tucking the bottle into his pocket Sora thanked her as she rushed towards the first district doors. "I know we've been fighting non stop since we arrived but we need to hold on just a little longer. We can't let this world fall!" Ciri said raising her sword as several shadows and knights began to appear, trying to block their path.
"Mission start" Sophie declared as they charged forward to meet the shadowy tide.
Above them stood the silver haired man, carefully observing them as they battled their way through. "As expected from mortals, their determination is inspiring but they are reaching their limit" he said, turning to face another figure that had appeared in a purple flash. It was a femine figure, dressed in what resembled an old fashioned diving suit.
"Their spark of hope cannot end here, so why don't we lend them a hand?" he asked, as the figure slowly turned the mask's viewing port towards him.
