Chapter 3: Database
{11:30am: Within the System}
The group of five teenagers looked around the circle of stained glass beneath their feet to see where they were, and what their next move would be; however, there was nothing but a black void of nothingness, and because of that, they found themselves standing in the center of the Station of Awakening, and tried to put everything together. Sora knew that all they needed to do was wait for the stain-glass stairs to appear, and then they could go to the next area. Yet, for now, that wouldn't be happening. Sora looked at the others, and sighed.
"We need to wait for the staircase to appear," he stated.
"Staircase?" Sora nodded.
"Yea…" Roxas looked around him.
"This is insane! I don't even know where we are, or how to get off this station," the blonde boy said as he looked around.
"Well…like I said, if you want to get off the platform, you have to wait till the staircase appears." Sora looked around, and Namine eyed the others.
"Why did our clothing change?" she asked.
"I doubt the computer knows what our clothing looks like." The others nodded as they looked at the piece of armor on their arms.
"What is that?" Roxas touched the pieces a bit, and Kairi looked at the one on hers and Namine's arms.
"I think this is Keyblade armor," she stated.
"Why would the computer give us Keyblade armor? There's no mention of it in Jiminy's journal." Sora looked at the blue piece of armor on his shoulder before looking at the small bit of light shining down from the darkness.
"Hello? Can you hear us?"
"Wait….was that the King?" asked Namine.
"Listen, you're waiting on one more person."
"There's five of us, though! Why do we need someone else?" questioned Riku.
"You're odd numbers, you need even ones in order to have partners for each other. Sora and Kairi are programed to link up, Roxas and Namine are the same, and that means Riku needs a partner."
"Why do we need partners?" Sora inquired this, and the voice paused.
"There will be some things in this version of the worlds that will require more than one person. Also, once they arrive, I will have Chip explain what you can do here, okay?"
"Alright, and then what?" Sora knew what happened next in his dream, but he wasn't sure how accurate it would be.
"From there, you will begin searching the worlds and fixing the data. Chip will explain more," the King's voice stated.
"Okay…but where is this person coming from?"
"They're already inside the journal, and will be here in a moment."
The five teenagers waited as they tried to see where the person would show up. A few of them considered it possible that they would show up from the Station of Awakening they were settled on, and others believed it possible that they would show up with some sort of door or portal, but it was when the only faint shadow present on the station had a small click of footsteps come from it that Sora tensed a bit.
"We're dead…what were they thinking? How can humans even be in the digital world?" Roxas's question had a few of them considering the same thing, but none of them were quite capable of doing much more than questioning who or what would happen.
"Would you shut up?" Sora snapped. The others jumped.
"Why?"
"Because someone's here!" he stated as he stepped back a bit from the shadows, and the group settled together and prepared themselves for a potential enemy.
"Who's there?" the figure moved a bit.
"They said someone in the journal would help us, right?" asked Kairi.
"Yes, but we don't know if this is them, or if it's one of the enemies inside the journal."
"Did you face something from the darkness this soon?" questioned Riku.
"Yes…it was mainly Heartless, but, the journal may not re-enact the details entirely because it was a dream."
"Okay…but…" another step forward.
"Come out where we can see you!" demanded Riku as he kept himself tense.
The person stepped out of the shadows, and the group felt a bit of confusion go through them. Standing there was a boy around thirteen or fourteen years old with dark brown, messy, and spiked hair, tan skin, and sky-blue eyes. They wore a red jumpsuit, a white, blue, and black half jacket, yellow shoes, and white gloves. The boy before them tilted his head in confusion as he looked at them, and then their eyes landed on a familiar pendant. Three of the people present looked faintly confused, and that left the two blondes more than concerned.
"Who…"
"Wait…."
"Sora?" asked Kairi. The two blondes looked at the boy, who gave them a confused look.
"Did you just call him…" Namine started.
"Sora?" Roxas finished the question, and Riku nodded as he stepped forward.
{Disney Castle: Real World: 12:01pm}
Upon the left hand screen, directly under Sora, appeared an icon from nothing. It was a blue heart outline with curves at the top that went inward, and atop the heart was a gold crown. A gauge appeared, and then a small icon image of the person next to it. It was a brown-haired boy in a red jumpsuit with a white, blue, and black jacket, and white gloves. King Mickey looked the boy over, and then smiled as the others looked at the image as Chip and Dale eyed the two images of the chestnut-haired teen, and the brunette side by side.
"Is that Sora?" Donald jumped.
"Sora is their guide, he's their best bet to survive this," the duck stated.
"Gwarsh, they look confused…" the group looked at the main screen where the five teenagers were standing, and in front of them stood the boy from the icon image.
"Great, this will confuse them," stated Dale.
"How so? They don't really favor that much." Dale shook his head at his brother.
"No, I mean they'll both respond to someone saying Sora," he said.
"Oh golly, you're right….well, they'll think of something." Donald and Goofy glanced to one another as King Mickey looked at the group standing on the Station, and then to the icon screen.
Everyone's images were present, alongside a symbol icon for identification; however, the King hadn't taken time to check every single one. His eyes glanced to Riku's at the top, noticing his image, his symbol, followed by his name, the name of his Keyblade, and his meter. King Mickey then checked Namine's, which was next, and found it the same, but with a pale blue lotus symbol instead of the black and red heart. After that he checked Roxas's and Kairi's, before settling upon Sora's, which appeared the same until his eyes fell upon the meter. Below the meter were six colored orbs: one blue, one red, one sunset colored, one gold, one purple, and one dark grayish-black. All six of them had the number three done in the same color under it, which caused him to raise an eyebrow.
"Chip? Dale? What are those orbs under Sora's meter?" he asked.
"What?" the two chipmunks looked at the objects, and the group awaited their answer.
"I've never seen that before. Did they just appear?" questioned Dale.
"Hmm…does Sora have any underlying abilities that favor the colors?" the King paused to think about the question.
"Actually, yes, he does," King Mickey stated.
"What?" the King nodded.
"Sora has magical based abilities known as Drive Forms. They vary with different types of abilities, and have several uses. I think he has only four though…" Donald, and Goofy looked at the King.
"He said he had five," stated Donald.
"Five?" Chip, and Dale looked at the orbs.
"I'll put the cursor over them and see if they tell us anything," Chip said as he moved the cursor and looked at the orbs.
The blue orb made a small click noise as the cursor was held over it, and it lit up with gleams of blue light around it. Chip and the others looked at it to see the words Wisdom Sprite appear when the cursor was held over the object. Looking at one another, Chip looked at next one, and did the same where in red writing above it stated Valor Sprite. After that the next ones that followed stated Limit Sprite, Master Sprite, Unknown Drive, Unknown Shadow. King Mickey stared momentarily at them, and then eyed the screen, before glancing to Sora's form that had appeared on the screen. Taking in a deep breath, the King looked at the group, and then back to Chip.
"Give them the mission; it'll be up to them to tell the data-version of Sora what's going on," King Mickey said.
"Your Majesty? Why would he need to know what's going on?" the King looked to his court magician.
"Well, this version of Sora doesn't know who we are, or who any of these people are. This is a digital version of Sora, who is new to the world, and doesn't even know what a Keyblade is. Therefore, the others will need to know the details in order to help him, but he is still Sora, so, I don't think we need to worry about him requiring a rundown of how to use a Keyblade," King Mickey answered.
"Alright, here we go!"
{Digital World: 12:15pm}
The group looked at the young boy standing before them while they tried to reason what was happening. Standing next to Kairi was Sora, but standing before them was also Sora. Roxas shook his head, and Namine raised an eyebrow as Riku stepped forward and looked at the smaller boy in front of them, who had an equally confused expression upon his face. Roxas glanced at Sora, and then at the smaller teen in unsureness, as he heard the sixteen-year-old Sora breathe in a heavy sigh.
"There's that mind fuck I was looking for…." Riku looked at the smaller version of his friend, who stared up at him in questioning before humming in thought.
"I thought you would be used to those?" muttered Namine.
"Nope, they're never the same…"
"Well…" Riku stated. Sora glanced at him, and glared.
"And here it comes…"
Riku looked between the two, and smirked as he stepped back, and then glanced once more between the younger version of his friend, and the sixteen-year-old version. He acknowledged the fact that the sixteen-year-old Sora was glaring with a form of venom that was strangely staggering with how kind and warm Sora's eyes could appear; however, they were in a digital world, and had just been given a severe slap with the – what they assumed – digital version of Sora.
"Nice to see not much has changed," Riku said.
"Do you want to die?" cyan eyes looked at sky-blue.
"No, but you really aren't much taller," he mentioned. Sora narrowed his eyes.
"Riku, I don't think we have the same abilities that we have in the real world." The silver-haired teen looked him over.
"What do you mean?" questioned Roxas.
"I mean I don't know if we can use Keyblades, spells, or some of our own abilities." Namine looked at the younger version of their friend.
"You have a point…." The chocolate-haired teen looked them over.
"Who are you guys?" he asked. Everyone's attention turned to him.
"He sounds just like Sora used to when we were kids….but is he a digital version of Sora?"
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
"Who's there?" the brunette boy jumped a bit in confusion of the voice.
"The King!" the group's cheer seemed to ease the digital version of their friend a bit.
"Since you're all here, I'll have Chip explain some details on what you can and cannot do, and also I will explain your mission here," the King stated.
"Okay, what's going on?" There was a small beep of a microphone, and then Chip's voice came forth.
"This is fairly basic. We set up the system like a game; you can level up, gain abilities, and items that will help you along the way, and store them where you won't have to keep them physically on you the entire time. Now, I also have several safe points around the worlds set up where you can save your data, and check your inventory. Hold up your left hand, and swipe it down, a screen will come up in white for you to check your data."
Everyone followed the instructions, and a white menu screen appeared on the left. It was fairly simple and straight forward in how everything was listed: level, items, company, weaponry, specialty items, and current status. The group nodded and dropped their hand which vanished the screen before looking at the area around them again.
"Alright, now, let me explain what you have in here. The details I just told you are the basics for how this world will work. Now, I will explain something you need to do first: form a unit with one another, and team up with the following people," Chip stated. The group pulled the screen up again, and clicked company before looking at the four options that appeared on the screen: add partner, form a company, remove partner, and remove company.
"What do we do next?"
"Click add partner, and then you'll see a list of the people with you, alongside their icons, and status is a green cross – you'll hit that once you do, you'll form a company with everyone," Chip explained this, and the group looked at the roster.
"So who are we paired up with?" asked Kairi.
"Sora and Kairi, Roxas and Namine, and Riku and the data-Sora are the teams. Once you've clicked on your partner, click agree to partnership, and then a question will appear once you've done that to ask you to form a company, click the green cross. If your icons appear in front of you, take them in your hands, and form a circle. Once you've done that, it'll form a crest that acts as a tracker, the tracker will allow you all to keep an eye on one another, and will appear somewhere on your clothing."
Everyone followed the guidelines, and then the group took note of the icon that appeared in front of them. Each took the icons in their hands: Sora's white crown, Kairi's pink star, Namine's blue lotus, Roxas's green X-shape, Riku's black, and red heart, and the data-Sora's blue heart with a small golden crown. They stood next to their partners in a circle, and the icons floated up, and formed a crest that was based in a circle of dark gray their crests formed a circle around another crest that favored a heart, but was more rough cut, and had a star point at the bottom instead of a smooth drop. The crest appeared over the hearts on their attire, and the group looked at the item piece of metal, and the strange form of the center crest.
"The center of your crest is the Mastery Crest, and it's because you have two Keyblade Masters in your group. Now, let me explain something about what you can do, and what you are limited with."
"Alright, we're all ears," stated Roxas. Admittedly, he was unsure of this situation, but at the same time, he was strangely excited.
"Firstly, let me pull out your first ability we hacked."
There was a sound similar to bells and metal clinking as familiar weight fell into their grasps. The sudden sensation was surprising to them as they looked at the Keyblades that appeared in their grasps, and then to the data-Sora, who was holding the Kingdom Key, and looking both confused and concerned.
"They got us our Keyblades!" Namine said in relief.
"Yep, now, show me that they're all there, state they're accounted for, and I'll move onto the next."
"Way to the Dawn is fine," Riku stated as he stepped away and swung the Keyblade a bit.
"Destiny's Embrace is the same as well."
"Wait…Namine? Your Keyblade is different," said Kairi as she looked at her sister.
The Keyblade in Namine's grip was blue, jagged, faintly pointed in two areas in the same directly of the teeth. The chain was gold, with a snowflake at the end, and the teeth itself was a blue, and gold snowflake as well. Stumped by the appearance, Sora stepped forward, and looked at the Keyblade before smiling in faint relief.
"That's not my Keyblade…." Sora nodded.
"It's a new one, I guess it hacked itself into the system. This is Diamond Dust, a winter Keyblade I got a hold of in my first adventure after facing the Ice Titan. I figured it would work well for you," he stated with a bright smile.
"Okay, so Diamond Dust is accounted for."
Sora held up the two Keyblades in his grasp, and took a moment to look the Keyblades over. Oathkeeper's pristine, angelic appearance with Kairi's lucky charm at the end of the keychain, and then there was Oblivion's shadowy, demonic-gothic appearance with his crown pendant on the keychain. Taking a deep breath, Sora looked at the area around them before glancing back at the Keyblades.
"Oathkeeper and Oblivion are perfectly fine," Sora said in a faintly uncertain tone.
"Roxas?"
"Yep, we're good!" he stated. The data-Sora looked at the Keyblade in his hand.
"What is this…." Sora walked over to the data-version of himself, and looked at them.
"This is the Kingdom Key, and while it's a data version, it's important that you keep up with it. You'll be fine," he said. Blue eyes looked into identical ones.
"Are you….me?" Sora smiled a bit.
"Kind of….you're a digital version of myself from when I was thirteen."
"Alright, from here, you'll all be going through the paces of Sora's adventure. I wish you all the best, because the details may vary, depending on how complete the journal's original entries are. There are several worlds you will be seeing for the first time, and once again. I hope you're all prepared for this."
"Well…where are we…."
A sudden chill of discontent went through the six of them as they spun on their heels and looked at the black cloaked figure standing before them. Sora's body instantly tensed, knowing what the cloaks meant, and feeling an increase of displeasure from seeing them once again. Riku and Kairi felt the same tension as Sora, who had tightened his grip upon Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Nothing short of pure malice radiated off the chestnut-haired teen; which left the others feeling anxious, and nearly ill to their stomachs as Sora kept a stern glare on the cloaked person, with Kairi and Riku bracing themselves for a potential battle.
"Who are you?" Sora snarled as he crouched a bit, and prepared to attack.
There was no reply as the person turned away and neared the edge of the Station of Awakening before the stain glass staircase began to manifest, and they ascended it in a rushed fashion. The six people were left stunned as Sora kept a sharp glare on the figure as it met the final step. Glaring again at the area, the chestnut-haired teen straightened and vanished Oathkeeper, while Oblivion remained firm in his grasp as he looked at the others. It was as he looked at them that Riku stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down before you go up there. We don't need to rush recklessly into something," he said. Sora tensed, his body shaking in anger before a heavy sigh left him
"Yea, you're right…" the silver-haired teen nodded.
"Okay, let's stick together. If an Organization member is in here, then we need to be careful," Riku told the others as they started towards him.
"That was an Organization Thirteen member?" the silver-haired teen nodded.
"Yes, and they aren't to be treated lightly. Don't split up from each other, and don't drop your guards." Roxas looked at Sora as he started up the staircase, and then glanced at the data-version of Sora, who was treading lightly behind Riku, who was nearest to Sora himself. The blonde boy sighed, and then glanced towards the others, because he knew, right then and there, that they were in for a long, long adventure.
{….}
Great clouds roll over the hills, bringing darkness from above…
{…}
Author's Note: Not much to say except there is more to come! Check out the other stories, and please leave a review!
Preview:
"What happens after you go through the door?"
"I go to the Destiny Islands…"
"And do we have to deal with our untold destinies while we're there?"
"Hahahaha…..very funny…haha…"
Chapter 4: Stations