KINGDOM HEARTS DX
Chapter 4: Another World
Akira logged into the game the following day. He looked around Traverse Town's First District for Kimiko.
"Where the heck is she?" Akira asked himself. "I wonder what was so important."
He remembered how he got up this morning. He was sleeping cozily in his bed when, suddenly, his phone began to ring. He lazily got up and brought the phone to his ear.
"Hello?" he yawned.
"Akira!!!" Kimiko shouted through the phone.
Akira reflexively tore the phone from his ear. When the ringing in his ear stopped, he carefully brought the phone back to his ear.
"Kimiko," Akira said as he looked at his clock. "It's 6 a.m. Why are you up this early in the summer?"
"Meet me at the game in two hours!" Kimiko answered. "I've got something cool to show you!"
"What do you…" Akira began. But Kimiko had hung up before he finished.
Without any knowledge about what was happening, Akira decided to continue looking for Kimiko.
"I could log-out, and she'll never know," Akira said.
Before he could initiate the log-out, Kimiko rushed by him, grabbed his arm, and began to drag him.
"You're late!!!" Kimiko shouted.
"Late for what?!" Akira exclaimed when he figured out what was happening.
"The thing I wanted to show you!" Kimiko answered. "It's this way!"
Kimiko dragged him through a large door in the front of the First District. The moment they opened the door, a large light emerged from it and engulfed them. When the light faded, Akira opened his eyes and found that they had entered a new room. In the center of the room was a large vehicle of some sort. It looked like a space ship or a plane. It was made up of large blocks and had what looked like cannons and guns on the sides. As Akira looked around, he found that they were in a ship-hangar. In front of the ship was a large doorway.
"What is this?" Akira gasped.
"This, my friend, is the main inter-dimensional transportation in the game!" Kimiko happily announced. "This is the Gummy Ship!"
Akira stared in awe at the large ship.
"Wait," Akira said. "Did you say 'inter-dimensional'?"
"Of course," Kimiko said. "The Gummy Ship allows players to travel across worlds."
"Worlds?!" Akira exclaimed.
"You didn't think that Traverse Town was the only world in the game, did you?" Kimiko asked.
"To tell you the truth…" Akira began.
"I've been building this baby since I first started playing the game," Kimiko said. "I was missing one piece: the Navigational Gummy."
"The what?" Akira asked.
"That red block that you found last night," Kimiko said. "With that piece, we can now travel to another world!"
"Let me get this straight," Akira said. "You spent a couple of weeks searching for a small cube which I found in one night. And that cube allows us to go across worlds."
"Exactly!" Kimiko exclaimed. "Now then…ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!!!"
Kimiko shoved Akira into the ship. She immediately followed him. Kimiko got into the ship's cockpit. Akira found a nearby seat.
"Buckle your seatbelt," Kimiko said. "This is going to get fun."
"Have you ever flown a…" Akira began.
"BLAST-OFF!!!" Kimiko shouted as she pressed a red button on the control-panel.
The ship began to shake. The door in front of the ship opened up. They then flew through the door at an extreme velocity. Akira, unfortunately, didn't have a chance to buckle his seat belt. As the ship flew forward, he was launched backwards to the back of the ship. He could feel the speed of the ship pound on him as he was forced into the back.
"And…we…are…through!" Kimiko exclaimed. "We have safely reached Pseudo-space.
The ship began to slow down, allowing Akira to safely make his way back to his seat. He then buckled his seatbelt. He looked to the right and through a window on the side of the ship. He saw the darkness of space, glittered with many stars.
"This is amazing!" Akira exclaimed as he looked outside.
"We have bogeys ahead," Kimiko said.
"What?" Akira asked.
The ship suddenly began to shake crazily. Akira looked outside of the window once again and saw ships with the Heartless insignia on them. These ships were firing towards them.
"Firing main cannons!" Kimiko shouted.
She pressed a button on the side of the steering wheel. The cannons outside of the ship fired lasers towards the enemy ships. The enemy ships began to retaliate. Kimiko immediately turned the steering wheel sharply to perform a barrel roll in order to dodge. After avoiding the attacks, Kimiko fired more lasers at the ships, effectively destroying them.
"Prepare to exit Pseudo-space," Kimiko said.
Akira saw a large world ahead of them. It was a red-and-pink-checkered planet with strange plants and buildings around it.
"Cool!" Akira exclaimed.
When they got close to the planet, a bright light flashed. When the light faded, they were inside of the Gummy Hangar again.
"How did we…" Akira began.
"Hurry up!" Kimiko exclaimed as she dragged Akira out of his seat and out of the ship. She went to the door of the hangar, opened it, and walked through. It took them a moment before they realized that…
"THERE'S NO FLOOR!!!" Akira exclaimed.
The two of them began to fall into oblivion. They fell faster and faster down into the darkness. Soon, they began to slow down. They fell slower and slower until it seemed as if they were weightless. They saw the bottom below them. The moment that their feet touch the ground, gravity seemed to return to normal.
"That was cool," Akira said.
They looked at their surroundings. The room seemed completely empty except for a table with two bottles on top of it, one blue and the other red, and a door.
"I guess we should go through the door," Akira said.
He opened the door and found a smaller door behind it. He opened this door and found an even smaller door. He kept opening doors which got smaller and smaller until he reached one that wasn't even big enough for a mouse.
"What the hell?" Kimiko asked.
"This door is too small," Akira said.
"No, you two are just too big," the doorknob said.
Akira and Kimiko jumped back in shock.
"It can talk?!" Kimiko gasped.
"Of course I can talk," the doorknob yawned angrily. "Now why did you wake me up? I'm very sleepy! Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like a bit more sleep."
"Wait!" Akira exclaimed. "How can we get small enough to go through you?"
"Why don't you try the blue bottle?" the doorknob answered.
Akira walked over to the blue bottle and drank the liquid inside. He suddenly shrank down to a size that matched the door.
"What?!" Kimiko exclaimed.
"Now I can fit through the door!" Akira shouted so Kimiko could hear him. "Your turn!"
Kimiko drank from the bottle as well and shrank down to the same size as Akira. The two of them then walked do the door and went through it. On the other side of the door was a forest. The two of them began to walk through the woods.
"This is strange," Akira said. "Where are the Heartless or the other players?"
"Most players remain in Traverse Town to chat with their friends," Kimiko answered. "About the Heartless…I don't know. Maybe there are no Heartless in this part of the world."
Before Akira could say anything else, he saw a giant white rabbit wearing a red vest, orange shirt, black tie, and grey pants running by on two feet and staring at a pocket-watch.
"I'm late!" the rabbit shouted frantically. "I'm LATE! I should be there, but I am here! The Queen will have my head for sure!"
"Do you think we should follow the rabbit?" Akira asked.
"Anything to get the plot going," Kimiko said.
Akira and Kimiko chased the rabbit until they saw an outdoor court filled with walking playing cards wielding spears. The rabbit that Akira and Kimiko had chased climbed up a staircase onto a platform. After catching his breath, he pulled out a bugle and blew into it.
"Court is now in session!" the rabbit announced. "Her majesty, the Queen of Hearts presiding!"
Akira and Kimiko looked toward the other end of the court. Sitting in the platform where a judge would normally be was a fat woman with a crown, holding a scepter with a heart-shaped tip.
"She's royally huge!" Akira whispered to Kimiko.
"Shhh!" Kimiko shushed Akira. "Who's the defendant?"
They looked towards a cage to the Queen's left with a cover on it. When the cover was lifted, inside was a girl. She had long, silvery-blue hair with deep-blue eyes. She wore a dark-blue dress with golden edges. In her hand was a staff with a moon-shaped tip. Akira couldn't stop staring at her flawless face. Her body was perfectly shaped. On her feet was a pair of blue shoes.
"She did it!" the Queen shouted. "This girl is guilty! Start the sentencing! Off with her head!"
"Hold it!" Akira shouted.
Everyone turned to face him.
"What the hell are you thinking?!" Kimiko whispered.
"What exactly is she guilty for?" Akira asked, completely ignoring Kimiko.
"Who are you?!" the Queen angrily shouted.
"Please answer my question, your majesty," Akira said. "The court needs to know the crime before any punishment is made."
"If you MUST know," the Queen said, "this girl is guilty for assault and attempt at my heart!"
"What?!" Akira and Kimiko exclaimed.
"A crime like this cannot go unpunished!" the Queen shouted. "Off with her head!"
"Objection!" Akira shouted.
"What is it this time?!" the Queen asked.
"She isn't the culprit!" Akira exclaimed. "It was the Heartless!"
"Ha!" the Queen scoffed. "The Heartless have been gone for a long time! If you have proof of this supposed Heartless infestation, bring it at once."
Akira paused for a moment.
"Well…I…don't have any…evidence," Akira said quietly.
"Then…" the Queen began.
"But I can get evidence!" Akira immediately interrupted. "Give me time to find some!"
"Fine!" the Queen replied angrily. "If it will shut you up, I will give you three hours to bring me evidence. If you do not, I will chop off ALL of your heads!"
"Deal!" Akira said.
"Deal?!" Kimiko exclaimed.
"You two have three hours!" the Queen shouted.
Akira ran up to the girl's cage.
"Don't worry," Akira said. "I'll have you out in no time."
"Who are you?" the girl asked.
"Akira Minamino," Akira answered.
The Queen's card-servants covered the cage once again.
"I promise I'll be back!" Akira said to the girl.
He then ran back to Kimiko.
"ARE YOU MENTAL?!" Kimiko shouted angrily.
"We only have three hours," Akira said. "Let's hustle!"
Akira began to rush into the woods. Kimiko followed him, confused by the fact that she was the one following him.