Realm of Darkness
It had been a while since Aqua had seen DiZ. There really wasn't much to do at the Dark Meridian and Aqua had dozed off. Now DiZ, the only other person besides herself had disappeared and left her all alone there.
'I wonder how he escaped', thought Aqua.
She walked further along the shore when a dark sinister looking portal appeared in front of her. She drew her keyblade, ready to fight whatever was about to jump out and attack her until a thin yellow dog jumped out from the dark portal and faced her. The dog smiled and looked up at her panting with his tongue out. He barked and ran back towards the portal, apparently beckoning her in. At first she thought she should refuse all together but then decided that going into that portal was probably better than staying there. Not to mention, the dog seemed familiar; like she had seen him before. She followed the dog into the portal and it closed behind her.
"Where are we...?", Aqua asked looking around her.
Of course she didn't expect the dog to answer her. Everything was pitch black yet she could see herself and the dog as if they were in daylight. Suddenly several small black creatures with round yellow eyes appeared and surrounded the two menacingly.
Aqua's keyblade automatically appeared in her hand and she gritted her teeth looking them all over, "Unversed...no, their coloration is wrong. Whatever they are, they aren't good..."
Aqua quickly vanquished them all but seconds later, even more showed up, and even larger ones at that.
Aqua clenched her teeth, "There are too many of them..."
The dog was standing a foot away from one of the creatures, growling at it and staring at it intimidatingly. The creature moved suddenly and the dog jumped back, frightened, and hid behind Aqua. Just as all the creatures were about to close in on the two, a figure dressed in black jumped out of nowhere, seemingly vanished for a split second, then reappeared in another location, tearing through the creatures one by one. Finally he stood facing Aqua and the dog and took off his hood, revealing a young looking face, narrow eyes, and shoulder length white hair. The dog looked happy to see him and ran over to him.
Aqua gasped as she looked at his face. 'He looks like...No, he can't be'.
The young man bent over and patted the dog, "Good job, Pluto. Let's get you home now."
He then looked up at Aqua and nodded, "I see you have a keyblade. And it looks like Pluto trusts you. My name is Riku."
Aqua straightened up and tried to look a bit more serious, "I am Master Aqua, former student of Master Eraqus. Thank you for helping me get rid of those black creatures. Were those Unversed?"
Riku smirked; something he hadn't done in a while, "Master Aqua? You expect me to believe that you are a master after that performance? And those creatures are called Heartless. Guess you've yet to kill enough of them to call yourself a Master."
Aqua's eyes narrowed, "I was trapped in the Realm of Darkness forever. I've clearly lost a lot of power."
"Yeah, sure", Riku snorted, "Come on, we gotta get you out of here. The darkness will slowing harm you if you're not wearing one of these coats." Riku pinched the fabric of his hooded robe.
A Corridor of Darkness opened behind them and Riku turned to it. Before walking through it, he turned to Aqua and held out his hand. Aqua hesitated for a second and then grabbed his hand. Riku pulled her through and the portal started to closed. Pluto wagged his tail and leaped through just as the Corridor shut.
?
On the other side of the Corridor Riku, Aqua, and Pluto found themselves in the middle of a vast dessert complete with sand, cacti, and rocks. Just then, several dark cretures appeared.
Aqua turned to Riku. "Heartless?", she asked without really needing the answer.
"Yes.", Riku nodded, "And extremely weak ones at that. Let's get rid of them before meeting up with my comrade."
They both drew their keyblades and ran at the Heartless. Riku was right; they were weak and went down in one hit. More and more were always up ahead but the two keyblade wielders kept slicing through them. Eventually they passed some dunes and saw an odd site: two brightly colored birds in peculiar outfits were standing back to back fighting off the Heartless. One bird was green, wore a dress suit, and was fending them off with an umbrella. The other was red, dressed in a cowboy outfit with a giant sombrero and he was fighting with pistols. Aqua jumped in and helped them with the rest. After the Heartless were all gone, the green bird ran up to Aqua and shook her hand.
"Gracias, Seniorita. Those creatures came out of nowhere. My name is Jose Carioca, but you may call me Joe."
He attempted to kiss Aqua's hand when the other bird pushed him out of the way and shook her hand as well. "And I am Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González III, but just for you, Seniorita, you may call me Panchito."
Riku and Pluto approached them. Just as they noticed the dog, Panchito and Jose leaped in surprise.
"Ai curemba!", shouted Panchito, "It's Pluto!"
"You two know Pluto?", Riku looked at them surprised.
"Si, Senior.", said Jose, "That dog belongs to none other than Senior Mickey. You see...we are world travelers too."
"That's right!", said Panchito, "We used our magic sarape to bring us from Disney Town to this world. That way Mickey could be a rey and without disturbing the town, we could continue to be..."
They both put on sombreros and pulled guitars out of nowhere before breaking into dance. "The Three Cabelleros!", they sung in unison.
Aqua looked at them oddly, "Um...but why are there only two of you?"
They both stopped dancing and looked down and sighed.
"One of our amigos went missing.", said Jose sadly.
"And we were about to go look for him when these creatures came out of nowhere.", said Panchito.
Pluto walked over to the two and wagged his tail smiling.
Aqua also smiled, "Don't worry. We will help you find you friend."
Riku nodded, "It's not part of my mission, but I know what it's like to lose a friend."
Riku and Pluto started forward but Aqua could sense something.
She drew her keyblade and held her arm out in front of Riku, "Stop!"
Suddenly the ground started shaking and a giant Heartless sprung up from the sand. The huge creature's thick skin was dark green and covered in sharp spikes like the cacti around it. Panchito and Jose drew their weapons.
"If they insist on helping us than as long as we're together, we will fight alongside our amigos!", said Panchito bravely.
"Si, you're right!", said Jose baring his umbrella defensively.
Riku and Aqua drew their keyblades and charged at the Heartless. The giant heartless swatted it's thorn covered arms at the four as they came near. Jose used his open umbrella like a shield deflected the creatures blow. Dark purple liquid oozed from where the thorns had struck the umbrella.
"Be careful, comrades.", warned Jose, "Those thorns are poisonous! We do not want to be touching them."
Aqua nodded and jumped far back. She shot several fire balls from her keyblade that hit the Heartless from afar. Panchito jumped back next to her and bombarded the Heartless with shots from his pistols. The giant Heartless roared and shot thorns from it's body toward Aqua and Panchito. Riku jumped in front of them and created a Dark Shield to deflect the poison missiles.
"Doesn't look like attacking it from a distance is much safer.", Riku was gritting his teeth, "Let's just kill it quickly."
He jumped to the other side of the Heartless and threw his keyblade like a boomerang towards the creature. Aqua threw hers too. The two keyblades sliced through the Heartless at both sides and after a few seconds, the creature exploded in a burst of light. A single large crystalline heart floated from the explosion and into the sky. Panchito and Jose started salsa dancing and Riku gave Aqua's hand a firm squeeze and nodded. Aqua was about to say something when the ground started shaking again. No giant Heartless came this time, but the ground split wide open and a huge crack in the world formed. Aqua and Jose were thrown onto one side and Riku and Panchito to the other. Aqua looked down into the huge crack: there was nothing but a vast swirling darkness.
She gasped and looked over at the other side, "Riku!"
"I'll be okay...", Riku yelled back, save yourself. This world is about to be destroyed. You still have people who need your help, Aqua... I'm sure we'll meet again..."
Aqua nodded and with here keyblade shot a small ball of light that opened into a portal similar to the Corridor of Darkness. Before jumping into it, she opened a similar corridor on the other side next to Riku. With one last look at Riku, she jumped into the portal and disappeared before the desert world was destroyed.
-
Big Apple
Riku was falling through darkness. He could faintly see some light far below him that gradually got bigger and bigger. Eventually he reached the light and suddenly he was hundreds of feet above a huge city. Riku spread open his arms and glided down to slow his decent and landed on top of the Empire State Building. He looked down at the city below and gasped.
"I never saw...a world as huge as this one. Destiny Island suddenly feels smaller than I remember..."
Just then he heard a loud crowing from high above. Panchito was holding his sarape above his head which was ballooned out like a parachute and yelling out with delight.
He landed next to Riku, "Mi amigo, that was the most fun I've had all day! I insist we should do that once more!"
Riku wasn't really listening because something had caught his eye. A little girl was walking far below, carrying an orange kitten. The kitten was wearing a collar that was sparkling with a distinct light. Riku drew his keyblade and a beam of light shot from it, touched the kitten and gently lifted it from the girls arms. A large black keyhole appeared over the kitten and then vanished in a burst of light. The kitten gently fell back into the arms of the girl, who looked very shocked. Riku's keyblade vanished and he looked back up at the buildings.
Panchito looked surprised, "Senior Riku, what just happened?"
Riku shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno. But that was this world's gate and now a new path is open."
"A path? To where?", Panchito asked, looking confused.
Riku shook his head, "I don't know that either. But we're not going to find out if we stay here. We need...to talk with the King."