I'm so sorry I've been late with this chapter- I'm not dead you know- I just had a REALLY bad case of block and had to step down for a bit. But this chapter is up now! Remember! I don't own any part of Kingdom Hearts but Migaru! Enjoy!
Groggily opening my eyes, I found nothing but darkness. After realizing that I was face down on what seemed like a stone floor, I flopped over, my arms splayed out beside me with my palms faced upward. As my vision cleared, what I found was not the night sky of the island, but the starry sky of somewhere new. Sitting up, I looked around, surveying my surroundings. There was a small fountain with glass shielding the two dog figurines that resided inside to my right. Glancing to my left, I saw a banister that looked like it led to a door. Beside the banister was a small alleyway, which led to something out of my line of sight. In front of me, there was a very large wooden door with thin metal platings along the middle and ends.
Standing up, I began to realize that I was alone. The last thing I remembered was going back to the islands to save the raft, but these creatures came up from the ground and started to attack us. I sighed outwardly as I remembered the dark material engulfing Sora, Riku and I.
"Sora?" I called out skyward, recalling that they were both with me. "Riku!" If I was here, then they had to be as well, right? The only problem was, where was here? Walking on the purple tiled floor, I climbed the stairs and opened the door that revealed a different room entirely. I had entered an alleyway that looked nothing like the previous room, with the only similarity being no ceiling. Peering up at the night sky as I made my way to another set of stairs, an almost inaudible warping sound caught my attention. What I saw when I looked straight forward, was a black hole open up, revealing a small figure that landed with a metal clang. My blood ran cold as I noticed the same glowing yellow eyes that were on the creatures from before were being sported on this one.
Backing away from the knight-like creatures, I started to turn away, almost in the motion of a run. The monster, on the other hand, had a completely different idea as it sped towards me in quite a playful fashion. The last thing I saw before I turned around was it winding up for what looked like a kick, but as I faced forward, my back turned to the attacker, a red and orange object a few feet away caught my eye.
"Get down!" An unfamiliar voice called. My body seemed to move faster than my mind as I dived to the ground, the bright object speeding over me. Unconsciously putting my hands protectively over my head, the warmth from the ball skimmed the top of the material of my gloves. As I landed on the stone floor, one other figure jumped over me. Quickly turning behind me, I found the creature seemingly burning in front of a young redheaded man, mostly in black with the exception of a red symbol on the back of his jacket and his multiple belts with an odd-looking sword who had just landed. The man put his finger on the trigger of his blade, pointing it to the creature, whose flames where dying out. The fire that engulfed it soon died out, just for it to be destroyed by another that the young man casted. Slowly turning around, he looked to me, slinging his sword over his shoulder, a stern look on his scarred face. "Are you alright?" He asked.
"I-" My words were cut off by several black holes emerging around the both of us. More metal monsters, as well as two or three larger ones, seemingly crashed to the ground as they landed, shaking the floor. Feeling something on my forearm, I glanced down, realizing that there was the same monster from the islands on me. Shooting up, I yelled as I flailed my arm around, trying to get it off. At last, I flew off, noticing that some of its body started to fade as the brunette man slashing it into nothingness. He glanced over his shoulder to me with an eyebrow raised before he spun around to the bigger enemies, his sword at the ready. At that moment, the smaller, bug-like monster jumped at me.
"No!" My first instinct was to slap it away, which was exactly what I did. What I didn't except however, was for the creature to fly back, quickly fading away as soon as it made contact. My eyes widened in surprise, backing away until I was back to back to the young man.
"Do you have any fighting experience?" I heard him behind me.
"No?!" I replied, panicking as I put my balled hands up to my chest. He groaned sharply, frustrated. More leaped in front of us as the man swung his sword, protecting us both. He missed one, winding up as it prepared to strike. "Watch out!"
Suddenly it disappeared, a small star-shaped knife in its place. Soon, a good half of them vanished in the same way.
"Squall, I'm here!" I looked up to where the voice came from to find a girl with a short green top and pale shorts descending from one of the roofs, a determined smile on her face and a familiar star-shaped knife in her hands.
"Yuffie!" The young man named Squall called out to her. "Get this girl out of here, and find a safe place."
"Got it!" Without warning, Yuffie's orange gloved hand grabbed my arm, pulling me along with her. "Come on, let's go!" As we ran, she held a bigger throwing knife close to her. It began to grow and acquire a blue hue before she threw it at the monsters. Some of the creatures were right in our tails. As soon as one caught on to my pant leg, I screamed and pushed my palm to it.
"Get away!" I called, a familiar fire scorching the small beast. This time however, the bug-like creature faded away into ashes, its dark makeup disintegrating into the air instead of simply burning. At last we both turned a corner, me looking back at the young man while Yuffie led me into a long and narrow hallway with various multicolored doors.
"They won't follow us here." She said confidently, still looking around to see if she could have been wrong and pushing her metal headband up on her forehead. "You okay there kid?"
"Um..." Once again, I was at a loss for words, not really sure WHAT exactly was happening. "I think so." As soon as I answered, the brown eyed girl looked to me, trading her serious expression for a more happy and carefree one. "We sure gave them a run for their money, huh?" She then flashed me an energetic smile.
"Y-yea..."
"Well anyway, we should get you somewhere safer." With that, Yuffie started off, assuming that I would follow her. Looking back to where we had just come from, I peered over to the short haired girl.
"But," I started, concerned. "What about that man?" Yuffie looked back at me; her hand paused in the air as she was in the motion of grabbing a doorknob.
"You mean Squa-err, Leon?" She clarified, faltering on his name for whatever reason. "He'll be just fine. He's been doing this a whole lot longer than I have, I can tell you that." The black haired girl continued her motions, now grabbing the knob of the door, twisting and opening it as she looked at me, excepting me to follow.
"Oh…" I sighed silently, following Yuffie into a room that slightly resembled a hotel bunk.
"But…" I looked to Yuffie, who was glancing up at the ceiling with a bored countenance. "They did seem a bit overwhelming." It was then that I began to worry, more than I should have about someone I had didn't even know.
"They…did…?"
"Yea. However…" She began walking around the room, her hands intertwined behind her back. "In one way or another, Squall can get out of there if it's too much to handle. Besides-" Spinning around to me, Yuffie flashed me a grin with a wink, holding up her thin arm, mustering up what little muscle she had on it while patting her biceps with the opposite hand. "We can just come to his rescue if he needs help, not that he needs it anyway. We'd be in and outta there in no time!"
"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and pointing to myself. "I can't fight."
In return, the female quirked a brow as well. "What do you mean? You've got those gloves handy, right?"
"My gloves?" I looked at them, finding that instead of a glowing violet on the key like they usually were, an unfamiliar deep red took its place.
"How they can expel the darkness like they did. Or don't tell me that it's just you doing that?"
"They did?"
"You sure ask a lot of questions." Yuffie giggled to herself, finally taking a seat at a bed. "But it seems you don't know much about those things."
"No, I don't actually." I slipped one of them off, examining the key as I tugged on the hems in order to clearly see it.
"In any case, we should get to someplace safe."
"I thought you said we already were?"
"Oh sorry." Yuffie scratched the back of her head playfully, an apologetic expression on her face as I slipped my glove back on. "I meant safer. The Heartless are known for slipping through the cracks. But-" She hopped off of the bed with a small sigh, landing with her legs together and her spread arms at chest level, her upper body bent ever-so-slightly in front of her. "There's one place even those monsters haven't gotten to, and that's where I'm taking you." As I processed her explanation, one word stood out to me- the names of the creatures.
"Heartless?" I asked as she and I walked out into another opening of the hotel room, entering another hotel room and onto a balcony.
"Yep. Those without hearts." Without warning, the black haired girl plucked me off of the ground, shifting me to her back as she jumped high, landing on the red-tiled roof of one of the buildings. As wrapped my arms around her neck while she continued jumping from roof to roof, I noticed that we were in an area that was different from the places I had seen in this world. World?
"I'm in another world?" I realized, looking around.
"So you are new." I heard Yuffie in front of me. "It figures, you sure sounded like you didn't know what was going on."
"But…" I continued. "I don't understand… how did we even get here…?"
"I'm almost certain that your world had the same situation ours did."
"What happened to your world?"
"Swallowed up by the Heartless." She started to explain. "That's how most, if not all of us got here, Traverse Town that is. This place is like a haven for people who've lost their worlds."
"A haven... " I murmured, deciding to pose a question. "When a world is consumed by these...Heartless things, is it possible for more than one person from the same world to make it here?"
"Of course!" Yuffie chuckled as she answered. "I don't see why not."
Thank goodness, I thought to myself. That means even Sora, and the others else were here as well! Riku really did know what he was talking about. But, how did he know that all of this was going to happen? I would have to ask him when I found him. Either way, I still owed the silver haired boy an apology for doubting him. He was even right about Kairi.
"Who's we anyway?" Yuffie's question snapped me out of my thoughts as we ascended from a nearby balcony. "You're not the only one, right? How many are there?" A low hum escaped from my lips as I pondered over the question she posed. Let's see... there was Riku, Kairi...
"Three." I finally answered.
"Good." She murmured quietly. "Then we'll have to be able to track them down."
"Track who down?"
"More like track what down." She corrected herself for my sake. "You see, Leon and I were tasked with looking for a type of weapon. It almost looks like a giant key."
"What's wrong with your weapons?" I didn't see anything wrong with a sword that shot out fire and the many star shaped tools that Yuffie probably had at her disposal compared to a something else, especially a blunt, oversized key.
"It's not what's wrong with our weapons," The girl explained as she landed on a roof, stopping most likely to take a break. "It's what this key can do that our weapons can't."
"Can it open things?" I asked, using its value as a key into full play.
"That too, but it's the only weapon capable of completely destroying the Heartless." My eyes widened at the thought of the creatures that took seemingly so many people's homes away finally being destroyed. "It has the power to return the worlds back the way they were, and it can keep 'em like that for good."
"Can such a weapon really do all that?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, but it's in short supply; always has been." She looked away from me and into the distance, the lights from below illuminating her now serious face. "You see, the Keyblade's pretty choosey about its master, so it won't pick just anyone. We don't even know what someone has to have to even get one. It's a mystery really."
"A mystery…" I repeated, peering over to the small sum of people going about their business.
"Hey, that was probably the first thing you said to me that wasn't a question." The girl laughed, her spirits lightened. With that, she jumped down without me, enticing me to follow suit. "Here we are. Anymore questions kiddo?"
"No, I think I've got the long and short of it." I replied, glancing behind me to find a small shop with kite shaped windows on each side of the door. I noticed that above the doors was a sign saying Accessories in quirky little letters.
"In you go then." Yuffie urged me inside, proceeding to call behind me. "Hey Cid, you mind if I brought you some company?"
"They here to buy some-" A blonde man behind the counter turned around, revealing a piece of straw in his mouth and a face much older than my own. His semi bright face clouded immediately as he looked at me, sighing in disappointment. "Another one? What's with all these kids hangin' around anyway?"
"Another one's been taken." Yuffie murmured, softly pushing me forward. "You'll be fine if you stay in here. Although I bet you could hold your own with some practice." As I took my seat on the leather couch beside of a glass table containing sellable items, Yuffie walked over and whispered to me when the man didn't bother to listen, instead tending to his accessories. "Don't worry about Cid; he'll warm up soon enough. I hope you find your friends" With that, she walked off, but not before turning back to me at the door. "Hey, I never caught your name-"
"Migaru." I said simply. In response, she nodded with a grin, pushing the door open in front of her.
"Take care Migaru, I'm gonna go look for Squall. Don't get into too much trouble, ok?" Without waiting for an answer, she exited the room.
"So, your world too, huh?"
"Hm?" I stopped examining my violet keyed gloves to avoid the awkward silences for about the umpteenth time, looking up to the owner of the voice; Cid. It had only been a few of minutes that I had stayed in the room, and so far, there was no hint of conversation. But as soon as a customer left, his paid-for bracelet in a small white plastic bag, he decided to make small talk.
"Throw me a bone here- your world kid." The blonde repeated, swiping the button of his nose with his hand before placing it back on his hip. "It was taken over, right?"
"I…think so." I told him, unsure myself. "There were Heartless, that I'm sure of. But the last thing I remember is some kind of darkness swallowing me up, and the next I knew, I was here." I suddenly looked to the jewelry in the table before continuing. "Although, I don't think I can call that place my world."
"Ran away, eh? I never took you for the rebel type."
"No." I said bluntly, turning my gaze over to him with slightly angry eyes. Finally, my gaze softened. "I don't know how I got there, or how I could get off of that world, not that I wanted to."
"No transportation?"
"We were going to use a raft-"
"Ha! Lotta good that's gonna do ya."
"We were going to think of something else if that didn't work."
"So your world is still out there?" He asked, suddenly opening the cabinet behind him, fishing for something. "Just give me the coordinates and I could get someone to get you there in a couple of days, no problem."
"I… don't exactly remember…where my original world is…either." I mumbled quietly, but clear enough for him to hear me.
"Amnesia huh? Not the strangest I've seen, but it's up there." He closed the cabinet at my response, sighing and putting his hands on his front table. "So you end up in another world, with memory loss on top of that. You haven't got the best luck out there, do you?"
"I guess not…" Now that he mentioned it, I don't think I had much luck to start with, not that I could remember anyway. At that moment, the blonde's eyes widened as, though he had just remembered something important.
"Say kid, what was that world you were in last?"
"It was on an island-"
"And you're looking for someone, right?"
"Three people." I corrected, surprised that he listened to Yuffie and my conversation.
"Three people…" He trailed on, thinking hard. "Hey kid, what's your name?"
"Migaru." At last, the man let out a long and loud sigh, placing his arm over his eyes, tilting his head back.
"Say, do you know a little squirt about this tall," He started, not taking his arm from over his eyes, but using his free one to measure a height a bit shorter than me. "Name's Sora?"
"S-Sora?" My eyes widened at the sound of my friend's name. "Yes I know a boy named Sora! Did you see him? Along with a boy and girl named Riku and-"
"Calm down Migaru." He stood straight once more, putting his hands in front of him. "He asked the same thing. The only two I saw were you, no Riku and no Kairi."
"Well, one's good enough for now right…?" I tried to lift my spirits. "Besides, if Sora's here, then they all have-"
"Slow your road there." Cid interrupted. "Just because you two are in the same place, doesn't mean the other two are."
"What…?" I practically deflated. "But Yuffie said-" I stopped short when I realized exactly what I asked her. She said it was possible for more than one person to make it to the same world, but she never said that's what always happened.
Either way, one of my friend's is out there! I thought, thinking of how his wooden sword did nothing against the Heartless. The brunette could be in danger, and I could do nothing about it. Maybe not nothing… I realized, looking at my gloves, remembering what Yuffie told me.
How they can expel the darkness like they did.
Although I bet you could hold your own with some practice.
I had even seen them at work myself, when I swatted a Heartless away, making it fade. Balling my fist up as I tugged at my gloves, I looked at the door with a determined gleam in my eye.
"There's no other time like the present." I told myself, trying to escape the fear I had of the Heartless creatures.
"Kid, what are you thinking of-" Cid began before I cut him off.
"Thanks for everything Cid, I'll see you later!" With that, I ran out of his door before he could protest, not stopping until I found a larger door. Pushing it open, I gasped softly, finding that this was the same place where I had met Squall and Yuffie. Not wasting any time, I ran down the stairs into an open area, only noticing when I arrived near a fountain that my heart rate sped up significantly.
"This is probably the most reckless I've ever been…" I said to myself, pulling off one of my gloves and sighing. Merely seconds later, my glove faded away into dark streaks, quickly taking form on my hand and staying there. Blinking twice, I tried to take them off in a panic, but with no luck. "That's never happened before…!" It was then that the Heartless began to appear in a small group. I clumsily tried to form a fighting stance, my left hand close to my chest and the other away from my side, my knees bent slightly.
"Now or never I guess." The first Heartless, a knight-like creature, lunged at me too soon. With a yelp, I slapped it, my hand connecting with its torso and sending it flying. The last I saw of it was its body was fading away. The other Heartless began to move closer as I gained more confidence, seeing as how I could defend myself. That was until more of them appeared through black holes; an exceptionally large one landing once again with a thud. Backing away, I ran forward and tried hitting it, but its large body only let out a barely noticeable amount of darkness. Instead, the Heartless grabbed me by my torso, slowly lifting my struggling body into the air.
"L-Let go!" I yelled in vain. As I grabbed on to its enlarged hand with all the force I could muster, I began to think that coming to this place alone was a bad idea. But it threw me weakly, making me land back first into the stone floor. Rolling back up, I saw that its hand began to fade faster than the other Heartless I handled. Confused, I racked my brain to find out what was different from then to now as I struggled to take care of the smaller Heartless. I recalled grabbing its hand with more force than usual…was that it…?
As one of the smaller Heartless launched itself towards me, I took a chance, wound up, and punched it square in the middle. Force seemed to have worked, for the bug creature faded completely in a matter of seconds. Turning to the front of the larger Heartless, I took another running start and jumped at it straight in the middle. Sure enough, the punch that I had thrown made it through the middle, where I slipped and fell flat on the ground behind the Heartless that now proceeded to fade away. Scrambling up, I looked to the increasing number of Heartless appearing. Keeping up with the attacks, I gradually found my own pace, becoming more confident with my swings. After what seemed like a lifetime of fighting, I was pushed back by the last Heartless I was up against, another large bodied creature. With a huff, I charged, jumping up and struck its head.
As it faded away, I landed, but lost my footing and fell on my rear. Not bothering to stand up, I leaned back until I fully lay down on the floor, tired. When my breathing finally evened out, I sat up, trying to shake off the slight pain in my body as a result of fighting those things. I figured I didn't have to worry much about Squall and Yuffie fighting them, since someone as inexperienced as I took them down, albeit a few injuries. But what about the others?
"Sora," I sighed to myself. "Where are you?" At the thought of my friend still being on this world, I stood up, fully energized, finding the three to be my drive. "I'll find you guys." Exploring more and more of the town, I began to get more used to fighting Heartless, but not fully getting over the uneasy feeling they always gave me when they came. In time, after passing under the hotel balconies, through a den of small dogs and various shops, I made it back to the familiar red stoned grounds of the safest part of the town. I groaned, frustrated, as I turned the corner to find Cid's shop, finding that I was right back where I started.
"Hold it!" I familiar voice called as I heard the door behind me open. Turning around, I saw Cid running over to me with two objects in his hand. "Next time you leave so suddenly, I won't be in such a giving mood."
"Sorry about that." I laughed nervously. "Giving?"
"Kids…" He muttered, scowling a bit as he chewed on his toothpick with more force than needed. "I was gonna give you this before ya left. Although, it looks like you need it now." Lifting a glass bottle in the air, the glass disappeared, leaving a small glowing green star to hover above me, taking most the pain from my battles away as it vanished. Now that I thought of it, I would always see Kairi with a few back on the islands, giving one to Sora after a battle with Riku.
"That was a potion." I realized.
"At least you've got some basic knowledge." He smirked, handing me the second potion. "Just remember, it isn't advanced, so it can't heal every little injury you get."
"I've got it. Thanks again Cid."
"No problem kid. I'll be in my shop if ya need me." As he started off towards his store he added, "And don't do anything stupid." I laughed, nodding and putting the potion away as he turned back around.
"Now where is a place in here that I haven't checked?" I asked myself. I was almost positive that there wasn't any place left to look. That was until I recalled where woke up. The purple tiled room was the only place I didn't look, but the problem was, I didn't know how to find it. I didn't know where Yuffie had taken me when we ran away, therefore I was stuck. Sitting on the steps in front of the accessory shop, I tried to remember, eventually getting up and continued on. At that moment, something brown and black caught my eye. Turning back, I found that it was a large door beyond Cid's store and to the side. I'd never seen it before, or rather I didn't realize it was there in all the confusion. Being that it was the only place I didn't check, it was probably the place where I had come from. Stepping up to the door, I struggled a bit before finally pushing it open, only to hear screaming from above. I looked up in alarm to see two figures barreling toward another figure; a brunette.
I closed my eyes at impact, opening them when I heard the crash. As I did, the three figures, now collapsed on the ground, came into view. My eyes widened significantly as I found that below the two that had fallen, was a familiar boy.
"The key!" The two seemingly cheered as I raced to the three.
"Sora!" I called, racing to the three, not bothering to listen to the two.
"Migaru?!" Sora realized, trying to get up. At once, a sudden rumbling was felt under our feet as they stood up in a panic. All of a sudden, cube-like pillars rose higher than I could jump, blocking all exits before knight-like Heartless filled the room. As the three readied their weapons, Sora stood in front of me in a defensive position. What was in his hands wasn't a wooden sword, but a blunt, key-like weapon…
"Is that," I started in awe. "The key they were talking about?"
"Stay behind me Migaru!" Sora instructed, putting his hand in front of me as he peered around hastily to see if any Heartless bothered to attack us first.
"There's no need to worry about me anymore." I told him, prompting him to look to me with a questioning expression. To show him what I meant, I ran forward to an attacking Heartless that had aimed at an unsuspecting Sora.
"Hold on!" He yelled, just swiveling his head as I landed a punch against its kick, making it fade into nothingness.
"I've actually been worrying about you, what with that wooden sword you carried around." I explained, wary of my surroundings, but still smiling at him as he slashed two coming at him. "But I guess we can both hold our own now."
"Don't give up!" We heard the two others call before we both flashed one another smiles, separating at the same time. As I fought, the faces of the other two finally came into view, surprising me when I found that the taller one had the features of a dog, while the other had those of a duck's.
I guess there are more things to a world than just its exterior… I thought, as the short one finished off the last Heartless. The four of us regrouped, each meeting at the center before a loud crash behind the tall one caught all off our attention. At once, what we all found were violet metal limbs quickly joined together with a clank, making a full armored body with the same symbol on its chest as some of the other Heartless. Finally, one more body part, the head, sped down, crashing into its torso before slightly rising, rotating with its whole body.
The armor wasted no time in spinning its arms around itself, causing us to either back away or deflect it. I somehow managed to grab one of its hands, the force of the spin almost knocking me on my feet while I held an iron grip. The hand didn't fade nearly as fast, even with the amount of force I used, but it was still effective. Around me, Sora and the others began taking down the legs and other hand with attacks of their own. Suddenly, the hand slipped out of my grasp, flying at me without warning. With a yelp, I instinctively put my hand out in front of it. In addition, a familiar orange light shot out from beneath my palm, scorching the hand into nothing.
"Migaru, you okay?" Sora called, running over after he finished off a foot.
"I'm…fine." I answered, staring at my hands in bewilderment as the key on my gloves, fading from red to violet. Turning my attention back to the Heartless, I noted that the rest of its parts were gone, leaving just the torso. "Shall we?" I motioned to the solely spinning torso of the armored Heartless, deciding to question how fire came out of my hand later.
"Yea." The brunette grinned as we joined the other two. The armor slowed to a stop, soon winding up for another spin towards the tall one with the shield. Holding his shield up in defense, the Heartless bounced right off of his weapon mid-spin, bumping into Sora's key and straight to me. Winding my arm back, I punched it off course, where the short one blasted it with a fireball.
It seemed as though that was all the armor could take, for it began to shake violently before its head fell to the ground, all of it fading away and leaving a single heart to fly into the air.
"Phew…" I sighed in relief, sitting down and crossing my legs. Sora walked up to me, putting hand in front of me. Gratefully, I took it, standing up with his help.
"Nice one." He smiled, giving me a thumbs up. "Why didn't you tell us you could do that?"
"I had no idea myself." I laughed, rubbing the back of my neck. "You see-"
"Ahem." We turned our attention to the short one, clearing his through rather loudly. "If you're finished, we'd like to speak with him."
"Him?" I jerked my thumb over to Sora, who looked just as shocked as I did. After a moment, they explained everything.
"So, you were looking for me?" The brunette asked, pointing to himself. In return, they nodded.
"So that's the Keyblade." I folded my arms in thought. "And went to Sora… what are the odds?"
"We were thinking the same thing!" A familiar voice called.
"Yuffie…and Squall." I realized, turning to them as they walked over to us.
"Leon." Squall corrected, redirecting his attention to Sora. They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade."
"Hey, why don't you come with us on our vessel?" The dog suggested. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel."
"I wonder if we could find Riku or Kairi…" He moped, his head starting to lower. I put my hand on his shoulder for support, but the boy didn't change.
"Of course." The short one reassured us. Immediately, Sora looked to them expectantly. After a quick side conversation amongst themselves, they wheeled back over to us.
"Sora, go with them." Leon instructed. "Especially if you want to find your friends." I backed away from the group, frowning slightly. By the way this conversation was headed, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be coming along for the ride. They had found the wielder they were looking for, and that was Sora.
Sora noticed my hand off of his shoulder and glanced over to me. "Migaru, what's wrong?" I managed to form a small grin before sighing.
"I think my journey's been cut short." I informed him. Before explaining what I meant, Leon cut me off.
"Migaru, I think it'd be best to go with them too."
"What?" I asked him while the short one rather yelled it.
"Her weapon." He further explained.
"Well, whether it's her or those things is unclear right now." Yuffie chimed in.
"They have a unique power." He continued.
"I saw it myself!"
"It's as if they can break down the darkness."
"Hey Migaru," Yuffie called me over. "Have you ever come in contact with fire before?"
"Not at the island no…" I said, thinking. "Wait, there was that one time…"
"What happened?" She asked, putting her orange gloved hands to her bent knees to meet me at eye level.
"It was here, when that one Heartless that tried to attack me when Squ- Leon saved me. He told me to duck when he attacked it, and cast a fireball. It skimmed the top of my gloves, but that's it."
"And then?" Behind me, I heard someone tapping their foot impatiently on the ground. Ignoring them completely, I continued.
"My gloves glowed red…and the last time I held out my hand, fire came out…"
"Bingo! I knew I saw it! The first time I noticed it was when you panicked when we ran from those Heartless."
"But what does that mean?" Sora inquired.
"I think, in a way, she absorbed the fire to use on her own." She looked to Leon. "What do you think?" The young man simply nodded.
"I believe something like that," He peered over to the short one wearing blue. "Would be valuable to his majesty."
"Gawrsh," The tall one whispered quite loudly this time. "I think he's right."
"And if she's not going, then I'm not either!" Sora protested, much to his dismay.
"But Sora, we won't be able to find the others if one of use doesn't go with them!" I feared.
"We could always find another way!" With an exasperated groan, the duck finally answered.
"Oh fine!" He caved.
"Well then, it's settled I guess…" I said hesitantly, avoiding his glare. Even then, Sora still couldn't find it in himself to get out of his slump.
"Yeah," He answered sullenly. "I guess."
"But you can't come along looking like that." Blue said. "Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"
"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" His dog-featured comrade chimed in, prompting him to push his face out of view.
"This boat runs on happy faces."
"Happy?" Sora repeated, no change in his tone. Suddenly, the boy took a deep breath, finally smiling to our waiting faces. The only problem was that his face was rather…questionable with the way he forcefully grinned from ear to ear as his eyes became slightly above view.
Quickly swiveling my whole body, my hand flew to my mouth, covering up what snickers I could while the two began to chortle.
"That's one funny face!" The taller one yelled between guffaws. Soon getting the laughter out of my system, I rotated back to them with a very conspicuous grin on my face.
"Okay, why not?" Sora stated, his spirits finally lifted. "We'll go with you guys."
"Donald Duck." Blue put his hand in the air.
"Name's Goofy." His friend added.
"I'm Migaru." I followed suit.
"And I'm Sora." Sora put his hand in last.
"All for one and one for all." Hopefully, this could be a lasting friendship.
"Try putting more force into your strikes."
"More force, right." I responded to Yuffie's directions, throwing punches and kicks her way as she expertly blocked them.
"And…now!"
"Right!" At once, I drew my right hand forward. As usual, nothing happened. Yuffie stamped her foot, clearly more frustrated than I was.
"Why!?" She yelled. After Sora and I met the rest of the group, the new additions being Aerith and a cricket named Jiminy, Yuffie had taken me to train while Donald and Goofy talked to the brunette. So far, there was no luck in trying to willfully call the fire from my hand. "What are we not doing right?!"
"C-clam down…" I laughed nervously at the black haired female. "I'm sure I'll get it."
"We don't have much time though…" She trailed.
"How about I try?" We both turned our heads, finding Leon plodding up to us, holding his sword leisurely at his shoulder.
"Do what you want, I quit." Yuffie threw her hands up in defeat, walking over to the steps near the accessory shop, our training area being in front of said steps. Turning his attention back to me, he readied his weapon.
"Come at me with all you've got." He commanded. Stepping back a bit, I charged at the man, throwing a punch to his left. He easily dodged without the need to jump back, even keeping his hand in his pocket and swinging his sword at me. Leaping back, I tripped while on my heel and fell backward. Getting up quickly, I charged once more at the brunette.
"Don't carelessly charge into things!" Yuffie called, a few feet in front of me.
"Right!" I called back, being careful. I dashed beside Leon, slightly catching him off guard and landing a forceful punch to his back.
"Straighten out your wrist when you punch." He instructed. "Don't do that and you'll break it."
"Right."
"Now, envision the fire you want to cast."
"Envision…?" Yuffie asked bluntly. "Why didn't I think of that…?"
Doing as he said, I pictured a fireball growing, engulfing the air. Unbeknownst to me, the key on my glove flooded a bright red color, quickly expelling the violet color it once had. Leon peered at my gloves, nodding to himself.
"Cast it!" He demanded, stepping back.
"Fire!" I pushed my palm out, an orange light blossoming from my palm before shooting out to an expecting Leon, who slashed the blaze in two before it faded.
"Good." He nodded in approval, putting his sword back on his shoulder.
"I did it!" We both looked up to an excited Yuffie, who jumped for joy. Finally noticing us, she turned a faint shade of red before correcting yourself. "I mean, you did it! Hurray…"
"Migaru, you ready?" Sora called, waving his hand to me at the entrance of the town.
"Hold on!" Yuffie cried, tossing up a potion in the air, healing me from my training with her. "Now you're ready."
"Take this as well." Leon gave me another potion. "Good luck to both of you."
"I hope your memories return!" Yuffie added.
"Me too…" I smiled, knowing that Cid told them about my memory loss.
"Let's get going!" Sora urged Goofy, Donald and I.
"Not 'til we're ready!" Donald argued.
"Well, I see big adventures on our way." Jiminy said, hopping from Goofy's shoulder to mine. "Looks like it's up to me to keep track of it all in my journal!" The cricket opened his book eagerly. "I've even made up names for the Heartless we've encountered."
"Really?" I asked, almost straining my neck to look at him. "How diligent."
"You think?" He chuckled, embarrassed. "Well, if you want-"
"Hurry it up you guys!" Sora interrupted us, already at the door.
"Coming." I called back, shooting a grin at Jiminy. "We'd better go." I directed my attention to Donald and Goofy, who were just finishing up. Donald simply uttered a 'hmph' while Goofy laughed, both heading towards the door to the lead us to the Gummi Ship.