okay people, reviews are most appreciated on this one. id really like to know if this is even worth continueing. please and thank you
Chapter 4: Traverse Town
Nick began to come to. She slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurred and it took her a second to focus. Once she had gotten a clear image she gazed around her surroundings. There were many buildings on each side of her and she appeared to be sitting in a stone alleyway. Obviously she was no longer on Destiny Islands. This seemed like déjà vu, except she remembered everything that had happened before she got there.
Slowly she stood and tried to think of some way she could possibly find her friends. None of them were in sight. She didn't even know if they were alright. What on earth happened back on the island?
Nick rubbed her painful head and closed her eyes. She had to find someone who could help her in this world. Surely this had to be a different world, right?
"Hey you there," a voice called to her. Nick's eyes quickly shot open and let her arm fall back to her side as she looked in the direction of the voice. It appeared the voice was coming above her and there in one of the building's tiny windows was an elderly man with blonde hair and a toothpick in his mouth. "What do ya think your doin down there in my stuff?"
Nick hesitated and looked at the man stupidly. "I, er, I'm sorry I didn't know this was your property."
"Ah well forget about it. I don't think I've seen you around here. Why don't you come on up," the man suggested. Nick obeyed and headed up a set of stairs and through the door to his shop.
Once inside she saw a fire place and a couch. This was an odd shop. Then she noticed the man standing behind a counter, crossing his arms and observing her.
"What's yer name, kid?" asked the man.
"Um, I'm Nick," she replied shyly.
"Nick, eh. Hmm that name sounds a bit familiar," the man said. He placed a hand on his chin in thought. "Oh wait I remember now. Some boy came in here early looking for a couple of girls named Nick and Kairi and a boy named Riku. Oh, I'm Cid by the way."
Nick looked at him wide eyed. "Sora! You mean Sora came through here?!"
"If that's his name then yea. A bit rude though. Kid had no manners toward his elders. Kept callin me old man," said Cid.
Nick ignored his complaint and kept asking questions. "Where did he go? Did he say anything else?"
"Geeze take it easy there, girl. He's taking a look around the town I suppose. I told him to come back here if he needed help so if you wanna stay here and wait that's fine by me."
Nick thought for a moment, considering whether she should take her chances out there or just stay. But then again, she had no idea where here was. "Where am I exactly?" she finally asked.
"This here is Traverse Town. I'm bettin it's a long way from where you're from by what your friend said. It's starting to get in bad shape too thanks to those pesky creatures."
"You mean those black things?" she asked suddenly.
"Yep those are the ones. Well, kid if you don't mind I've got some work to do so why don't you make up your mind and let me know what your doin, alright." Cid turned his back to her and appeared to be rummaging through a box.
"Thanks, but I think I might take a look around," she decided.
"Alright then, come back anytime if ya need something. And who knows, you might just run into your friend," Cid waved and continued with his work.
Nick walked out the door and looked to each side of her, deciding on where she should go. She decided to walk around Cid's shop, only to find a giant door. Deciding it would be a good start in searching for Sora, she walked through. However, once she was through the door, a group of the dark creatures appeared. Instantly the blade of destiny appeared in her hands as the monsters ran towards her.
She took them out with ease. These creatures were positively no match for her. She was used to taking on much harder enemies than this. Each time one was slain, though, the hearts released from the creatures turned from pink to white before they disappeared. Just as they had done in her dream. But something felt incomplete to her. These hearts needed something else to make them whole again.
Nick glanced in the direction of a great white building. She headed towards it and noticed that down an alleyway to her right was a door. It had some sort of sign saying 3rd district. Must be another part of the town, she thought. Still in her search for Sora, she continued on to the next district. However, she still found nothing. This world wasn't very big. But then again, neither were the islands. Maybe all worlds were this small.
Seeing that there was no sign of her friend anywhere, she decided to just head back to Cid's shop and wait. Hopefully Sora would come back after not finding any of them there.
After fighting a few heartless and finally making it through the entrance to the first district, Nick walked forward towards the entrance to Cid's shop. But she quickly stopped, hand on door knob, breathing softly. She could've sworn she heard something. Like someone was following her. Nick quickly looked up to the roof of the shop and tried to see if anyone was up there. Then there it was, something shining. What could that be?
Nick stacked up a few crates and managed to get herself up on the roof. Once up there, she saw nothing. Whatever it was had already left. Turning around to begin heading back down, Nick suddenly came face to face with a girl just as tall as her with short black hair and dark brown eyes. Without giving her a chance to react, the girl hit Nick back across the roof with a strange spiked weapon that she had never seen before.
Nick sat up, trying to regain herself after the blow, but the girl came at her again. Finally tired of it, Nick summoned the blade of destiny and blocked the mysterious girl's weapon. The girl eyed the sword in awe and jumped back. Nick pulled herself up but noticed she heard the sound of other weapons clanking together. She looked down below to find a boy with brown spiky hair trying to fight a rather tall man.
"Sora!" she shouted. But as she did so, Sora looked up and was knocked aside by the man he was fighting and fell unconscious. Nick panicked and went to go help when the girl she had been fighting gave her a hit to the head. And yet again, she too fell unconscious.
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Nick started to come to. This is starting to get old, she thought. She tried to sit up but her head was in far too much pain. Setting her head back down, it felt as if she was on a bed. She tried to make out where she was through her blurred vision but from what she could tell she was in what looked like a hotel room of some sort.
"Those creatures are pretty interesting aren't they," said a man's voice from the corner of the room. It sounded bland and almost monotone. She looked in his direction only to find a blur of him.
"Yeah, I guess so," she said. Slowly pulled herself up and placed her head in her hands. She couldn't seem to shake off this massive headache.
"Hey now, take it easy," said the man. She could hear his heavy footsteps as he walked towards her. "Yuffie hit you pretty good. You don't want to cause anymore damage than you already have."
"Yuffie?" Nick questioned. Her vision started to clear and she was able to make out the guy standing next to her had his arms crossed and a vest. His hair was brown and he had a scar across his face.
"What's your name, girl?" asked the man.
Nick looked away from the man, her eyes suddenly hurt from straining to see him. "It's Nick. Who're you?"
"You can call me Leon," he answered.
"Leon huh? Well, Leon, can you tell me exactly where I am?" she asked. Her vision now almost completely clear. She was now finally able to look at him as he spoke.
"You're in the second district of Traverse Town. But that's not important. What's important is how you got the blade of destiny," Leon said. Nick tilted her head at him a bit confused.
"What's so special about it?"
"Listen, it would be better to explain this with the keyblade master here too," said Leon as he began to walk to a door that led to another room.
Nick sat for a moment, watching the man but suddenly remembered who it was that had the keyblade. She quickly jumped up and ran to the other room. Sitting on a couch was Sora talking to the same girl who had fought her.
"Sora!" she called as she ran over and hopped onto the couch. She embraced him in a big hug and rubbed the top of his head so the spikes of his hair poked out.
"Nick!" Sora said in surprise. He returned her hug and had a huge grin on his face. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Me too," said Nick. "Have you seen Riku or Kairi anywhere?"
Sora's grin suddenly faded and he looked down a bit saddened. She nodded in understanding, and then looked up at Yuffie who began to speak.
"The keyblade and destiny blade. Yeah we had to get them away from you two to get rid of those creatures. They were probably using those to track you," she said.
"It was the only way to conceal your hearts from them. But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you two of all people are the chosen ones," said Leon as he crossed his arms.
Nick looked at Sora a bit confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked as a flash of light appeared in her hand and her weapon shown brilliantly.
Leon lifted the keyblade, only to have it return to Sora. Nick and Sora stared at each other's weapons in both astonishment and confusion.
"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers," shrugged Leon.
"Wait a second," said Sora, shaking his head, "What's going on here?"
Leon began to explain how there were other worlds and they were now being attacked by creature called heartless.
"Heartless?" Nick whispered to herself. She looked at her blade and thought of what happened when she killed one of those heartless.
"Those without hearts. The darkness in people's hearts-that's what attracts them. And there is darkness within every heart," Leon explained.
Yuffie then turned toward the two young teens. "Hey have you guys heard of a guy named Ansem?"
The two friends looked at each other and shook their heads. Yuffie and Leon then explained how Ansem was studying heartless and kept reports on it.
"So this thing is a key?" Sora asked lifting the giant key in his hand. Yuffie nodded with a bright smile.
"Wait, what about me? Where do I fall into this?" Nick asked suddenly.
"You are the wielder of the Blade of Destiny," Leon began. "When Sora releases a heart from a heartless, you are the one who resets the destiny of that heart. Together you two are supposed fully restore a heart. However, I never actually thought the keyblade master and the master of destiny would ever be partnered together. You two were supposed to come from completely different worlds."
"Well, lets just say I think heartless might've been chasing me for awhile," Nick said with a hunch.
"Don't worry, the heartless have great fear of their weapons. That's why they'll keep coming after you two," said Leon.
"I didn't ask for this," Sora mumbled.
Nick placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her. "Neither of us did, Sora."
"How did this all happen? I remember being in my room…." Sora began. He then looked at Nick wide eyed then at the two standing before them. "Wait! What happened? The island! Riku! Kairi!"
"Are they alright?" Nick asked also coming to the sudden realization.
"I really don't know," Leon said shaking his head. "But sooner or later the heartless with find you two. So I suggest you prepare yourself."
"Prepare?" Sora questioned.
Nick however felt more confidence in the mission she had been given. "I'm ready," she said standing up from the couch. She looked down at Sora with determined eyes. "You with me, Sora?"
Sora stared at her for a moment with blank eyes. Then nodded with a grin. "Yeah," he said standing up, "I'm ready!"
"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors," said Leon as he watched the two friends.
"Leon!" Yuffie suddenly shouted. The others looked in her direction in alarm as a soldier heartless appeared.
"Yuffie, go!" Leon shouted as he pulled out his gunblade. Yuffie headed out the door as quickly as she could.
Leon then faced the two friends. "Sora! Nick! Let's go!" The heartless headed out the window with the three of them heading straight out of the motel.
Many of the little heartless that Nick had seen on the island appeared before them. "Don't bother with the small fry," said Leon as he helped them push their way through. "Let's find the leader! Come on!"
Nick and Sora headed to the third district as quickly as they could, leaving Leon to take on the heartless himself. Sora leaned forward, hands on his knees and panted, "This is all so bizarre!"
Nick nodded but remained unaffected from running. "Yeah but we really have to watch out for each other now, alright? If anything happens to either of us the worlds will- OOF!"
Just as she was about to finish, her and Sora where suddenly beneath two creatures that had just fallen off the stairway and straight onto their heads. Nick pushed one off of her and pulled Sora out of the way as well. The two looked at the creatures that had landed on them to find a strange duck and a dog like figure. These two creatures looked at Sora's blade mesmerized.
"The keyblade!" they shouted in unison. Just as they did so, a large purple, armor like heartless appeared behind them. Nick lifted Sora to his feet and prepared herself for battle. The strange creatures beside them also did the same.
The heartless came at them and Nick was the first to take a hit. This was what she was made to do, she thought. Fighting had always been her skill, she always knew it had to be for something.
The duck like creature ran beside her and shot out fire out of his little staff. She was taken by surprise at this. How strange of a duck to act like this. Then the dog like creature blocked a hit towards Sora with a shield and Nick was yet again surprised. Things were certainly strange in other worlds.
After a struggle of a few minutes, the heartless was finally defeated. A large glowing pink heart rose from the dissipating remains of the armor heartless. Sora pointed his key at it, and the blade of destiny was raised as well. Then the two of them restored the heart in a flash of white light.
Sora then turned to the creatures. "You two were looking from me?" he asked.
The two nodded and responded in unison, "Uh-huh."
"But who are you exactly?" said the duck, pointing a feather at Nick. His voice was so muffled she could barely make out his words.
Nick swung her blade over her shoulder and said, "I'm the Master of Destiny."
The two creatures stared at her in awe. The dog like creature made a strange "Hukyuk" sound as Leon walked up.
"They too have been searching for the wielder of the keyblade," said Leon, "But not expecting to find the wielder of the blade of destiny."
The dog creature suddenly spoke up, "Hey why don't you two come with us. We can go to other worlds in our vessel."
Nick glanced at Sora and wondered to herself if she would find Riku, or maybe even her own world.
"Maybe we'll find Kairi and Riku," Sora said to Nick. She nodded slightly then looked back at the strange creatures.
"Of course!" said the duck apparently hearing Sora's suggestion.
The dog creature suddenly whispered something to the duck that the Nick couldn't hear.
"Go with them," Leon said, "Especially if you guys want to find your friends."
Sora still looked a bit upset, but answered, "Yeah, I guess."
Nick grinned at Leon and he simply nodded at her. Then the duck said something to Sora about looking happy.
"Yeah you gotta look funny like us!" said the dog in addition to the duck.
Nick giggled and glanced at Leon. "That's probably a bit easier said that done," she whispered to him. Leon chuckled and crossed his arms.
"This boat runs on happy faces!" said the duck.
Nick walked over to Sora and placed an arm around his shoulders. Although she felt just as sad as he did, she still managed to keep a smile. "Yeah Sora, we can't have a sad kid bringing us down on this journey."
"Happy?" Sora said as if thinking. Then, Sora made the largest grin he could bear as Nick giggled at such a strange face. The others laughed as well and Sora agreed to go with them.
The duck place a hand forward, "Donald Duck."
The dog placed his hand over Donald's, "Goofy!"
Sora placed his hand on top of theirs, "Sora."
The three of them then looked at Nick who smiled and placed her hand on top of Sora's, "Nick!"
"All for one and one for all!" shouted Goofy.
"Aye!" Nick shouted in response.
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Meanwhile, there are great evils at work….
"Those brats took out the heartless! And that girl" said one dark shadow in a high voice, "She seems a bit cocky with that blade."
"Such is the power of the keyblade. The child's power is not his own. The power of destiny itself also cannot be controlled by only one soul," said another as he holds his snake staff.
"Why don't we just turn them into heartless? That'll make this quick and easy," said an over sized woman.
"And those brat's friends are the king's lackeys. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them," said another one of the shadowed figures with a hook.
"You're no prize yourself," laughed another shadowed villain.
"Shut up!" shouted the one with the hook.
"Enough! The Keyblade has chosen him and Destiny has chosen her," said the eeriest of all the shadows. Her voice sending a chill down each one of the others spines. "Will it be he who conquers the darkness or her or perhaps both? Or will the darkness swallow them up? Either way, both of them could be quite useful…"