Okage Hearts

Chapter 5

I still don't own the games. I suppose it's for the best. I need to have time to write fanfiction, after all.

Ari was walking through the woods, repeatedly getting harassed by ghosts who were defeated with relative ease. Eventually, he and Stan came across a bridge, where a ghost was waiting.

"Well," Ari said, "This is getting annoying. I mean, seriously, where are these things coming from? Whenever I explored the woods before, I didn't have a problem with things like this."

"Personally, I blame you," Stan said, not even bothering to leave Ari's shadow, "You're the one with the Keyblade…"

"Of course," Ari mumbled, "I obviously wanted to have a weapon that would condemn me to a lifetime of having to solve all manners of problems, and then have my sister be attacked by a ghost that would give her a curse to speak Pig Latin. Then, once I was done with that part of my wish, I asked for my family to be so desperate to get rid of it that they would sell me to an insane Evil King who would possess my shadow, cause me to have my first fight with my only friend, one-sided as it was, and then have both he and I get set out on a quixotic mission to kill other Evil Kings to help him regain his power."

Stan looked at him for a moment, not making a single sound for quite some time, before he ended the silence by saying, "Slave, you murmur quite a lot. I couldn't understand a single word you said. I think that you should speak louder."

"Well I think…" Ari muttered, until a strange sight appeared in front of him. A woman dressed like a pirate with her orange hair over her right eye charged at the ghost on the bridge with a rapier drawn. That, however, wasn't the weird thing. The weird thing was that she was carrying a pink parasol as she did this, blocking the sunlight, as intended.

Confusing as her decision in items to carry was, Ari had to respect how skilled she was with that weapon. Still, a parasol? The ghost lunged at her, only to be blocked by the sword, which the woman then used to slash right through the ghost, dispatching it with ruthless efficiency. Clearly, this woman, whoever she was, was a professional when it came to killing ghosts.

The strange woman then turned to Ari, who decided that, whatever she was going around attacking ghosts for, he did not wants to give her an excuse to attack him, so he sent the Keyblade elsewhere. Wait. Where did it go? The box? His room? Maybe it went into his jacket. This was a very confusing moment for him. At any rate, the strange woman was heading in his direction. What could she possibly need to talk to him about? Stan was still in his shadow, and, as for himself, he hadn't been in her way. There was no reason that he could think of.

"What were you doing?" she seethed, solving the puzzle of why, "Don't you know how dangerous ghosts are."

"Yes, ma'am," he said in his whisper, "I do have some experience in this field."

"You need to have a weapon when you're going out here," she added as if he didn't answer, giving him a once-over with her eyes, "To be honest, I'm surprised you made it this far."

Wordlessly, Ari summoned the Keyblade, held it in front of him, and asked in his usual whisper, "Will this do for me having a weapon?"

"You have a Keyblade?" she asked incredulously, before she switched into a calmer tone of voice and said, "I suppose that you'd be safe out here, then. Carry on with whatever your quest is then, Wielder."

"Who are you?" Ari asked, still trying to puzzle out what was going on.

Having probably not heard him, she left the confused boy to his own devices, not answering his question. He wished that Julia was there. If she was around, he'd both get his questions answered and have better company than the King of the Lazy Shadows. Remembering a promise given hours ago, he stood there, lost in memory as Stan grew impatient with his mode of transportation spacing out with an odd expression on his face.

"Slave!" Stan shouted, "You are doing that weird spacey thing again. It is getting unnerving. We must get to Madril as soon as possible!"

"Of course, Your Highness," Ari mumbled quietly, "Pardon me if you can't even travel on your own."

Suddenly, the pair found that their path was blocked by a man in a lab coat.

"Um, would you mind moving, sir?" Ari asked, getting ignored, as usual.

"Bah!" Stan groaned, "You call that getting him out of the way, Slave? YOU THERE! MOVE!"

The man in the lab coat turned and saw the pair.

"Oh my," the man said, moving his hand through his grey messy hair, "a talking Shadow. Fascinating. If my calculations are correct, you are of some high class of Heartless, possibly a boss. Of course, that might make the boy a Nobody, but as he does not seem to be doing much, that would not be possible. Perhaps… No he has a Keyblade… Well, I suppose that if the…"

"Um, we need you to move, sir," Ari said politely, "My name is Ari, and this is Evil King Stanley Hihat Trinidad the XIV. We're in the middle of a quest, you see, and you are blocking the path."

"Ah, yes," the man said, "I, Doctor Gutten Kisling, am scientist who is in the field of studying ghosts, Heartless, Nobodies, and the like. Perhaps we shall meet later, as you tow would be an interesting study, of that I am certain. Farewell and good luck on whatever your quest is."

With that out of the way, the pair wandered to the village of Madril, where their first actual quest would soon begin.