On Today's Episode: Nick's adventure has officially begun, and the trinity's first stop is what appears to be regular old Jinbocho, Tokyo, only this Japan is home to an adorable girl who just so happens to possess paper-based superpowers. Seems like a good place for the adventure to kick off, right? But mysteries abound as the trinity fight off strange clones of historical figures, assist the British Library in investigating the clones, all alongside attempting to figure out more about Sophia, the girl in Nick's Gummiphone...
For Today's World: Yup, we're breaking tradition to begin Phase Two! Normally, each of the mainline Key to Her Heart adventures has begun with a visit to Rooster Teeth's RWBY, but we're bucking that trend here. This adventure's first world is based on Read or Die, specifically the first episode of the OVA. I had originally planned this one for Key to Her Heart: A Fragmentary Passage before that story fell through, so let's give it another go here!
Act 2: Read Between the Lines
The ringing just kept going and going, forcing her to scavenge through bunches of books until a set of them fell off of her ringing phone, allowing her to answer whoever was calling her.
"...hello?" a sleepy voice answered. "Um, yes, this is miss Yomiko Readman... WHAT?!"
Yomiko Readman bolted upwards so fast that she almost gave herself whiplash, and that's not even counting all the books and newspaper articles she had been buried under.
"No, no, I'm actually not busy, mister," Yomiko answered, rifling through her stacks of books (seriously, do you see all of these books?) for a pen so she could write down what she needed to, eventually finding a calendar and a red pen to mark down the date.
"Got it. Next week on the twelfth," Yomiko asked. "I'll see you in a week, then? ...that's not true! Oh, me, too, sir, thank you so much for this!"
A few seconds after Yomiko hung up, she let out a loud yell of triumph before standing up and shuffling around her apartment to get ready for the day ahead of her.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the city, Nick, Maylin and Haruka were walking around, taking in the sights of what appeared to be Jinbocho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, according to Sophia.
"You seem to know a lot about this place, huh, Sophia?" Nick asked.
"I am not sure why such information is stored in my database," Sophia answered.
"Man, your creator sure has a lot of holes to fix if she ever meets you again," Maylin quipped.
"I guess having the A.I. version of amnesia isn't exactly as simple to recover from as us humans, right?" Haruka wondered.
"I have tried every form of data recovery that I possess, but no luck," Sophia replied.
"On to the matter at hand, this place looks normal," Nick stated, looking around the area. "I know that Jinbocho is a real place in Tokyo, but..."
"One thing you'll learn pretty quickly is that while some worlds may look like real life locations, things might always be different," Maylin replied.
"Always keep an eye out when exploring a new world," Haruka explained. "Despite any similarities, you never know what could be different."
Nick took a few steps forward, only to stop in his tracks when a small crowd of Heartless appeared in front of the group. This particular Heartless had a smooth, conical, red body with a Heartless emblem emblazoned on its chest. The top of its body flared outward and formed a jagged "collar" below the Heartless's spherical, pitch black head. It also wore a conical, yellow hat that had a jagged brim and a thin, curled tip.
"Oh, fantastic, these things are back," Maylin groaned as she summoned Spellbinder to her hands.
"Um, could I possibly get a footnote here?" Nick asked as he flicked his right hand out to summon the Kingdom Key to his hand.
"These little flying wizard things are Red Nocturnes," Haruka explained as she summoned Divine Rose. "There's a big family of these kinds of Heartless, and they're all different kinds of magic users. This one uses Fire in its attacks, so don't use your own Fire spell against it."
Maylin wasted no time, sliding towards a pack of the Red Nocturnes and casting Blizzard, spraying the Red Nocturnes with a blast of ice crystals that easily eliminated a large chunk of them.
"It is, however, weak to ice magic, as Maylin so aptly demonstrated," Haruka quipped.
"It seems like different types of Heartless have different elemental strengths and weaknesses, huh?" Nick replied as he leaped upwards to bash another Red Nocturne in the face with a flying uppercut swing.
"Pretty much," Haruka answered as she chopped another Red Nocturne in half with an overhead slash. "So try different spells out when you've learned some more magic, 'kay?"
Thankfully, it didn't take long to defeat all of the Red Nocturnes that had shown up. Nick had learned that if he timed a swing right, he could use his keyblade to deflect the fireball of a Red Nocturne right back into it and stun it.
"Enemy registered," Sophia proclaimed. Nick looked at his Gummiphone and saw that the screen now displayed a photo of the Red Nocturne they had just fought, with a small description of it and its attacks, no doubt written by Sophia herself.
"That sounds incredibly useful, having a database of our enemies just in case," Haruka stated.
"You rock, Sophia!" Maylin proclaimed.
"Praise accepted," Sophia giggled.
"Okay, now that that's over," Nick quipped. "Are we looking for anything in particular while we're here?"
The answer to that came in the form of a loud buzzing sound and lots of people screaming. Nick turned towards the nearby intersection to see panicked citizens running away from what appeared to be a gigantic swarm of bees and other insects.
"Oh, my lord," Nick gasped.
"Not a fan of bees, huh?" Maylin quipped.
"To say the least," Nick answered.
"Hey, what's that girl doing?" Haruka asked, pointing towards someone at a nearby crosswalk who didn't seem to even notice the swarm of giant insects, too absorbed in the book she was reading.
That is, until a large truck being attacked by the swarm slid across the street and knocked her down, papers scattering everywhere. A part of the swarm attempted to attack her, but she simply raised her hand, and to the trinity's surprise, a bunch of the nearby papers reacted, forming a shield in front of her. Any bees who hit the shield collapsed to the ground and died instantly.
"Goodness, what's happening here?" Yomiko wondered as she glanced around, trying to find the source of the bugs. "What are all these insects doing here?"
A loud explosion from a couple blocks away put Yomiko on edge, and she raised a few papers in preparation as a figure riding on a giant mutated praying mantis leaped across the street, eventually crashing down in front of Yomiko.
The figure riding the gigantic bug raised a jar above him so that the entire swarm of insects retreated into it. After checking his journal and studying Yomiko with an eye inside his hand, the figure simply smiled.
"Your book is mine," the figure proclaimed as the mantis opened its mouth and used its tongue to snatch Yomiko's book from her hands. Apparently, she didn't like that, as she kept holding onto the book until she was dragged into the air and shoved away by the mantis. The figure looked at the book he'd taken and nodded. "Yes, this is the one."
"Hey, bug-eyes!"
The figure glanced down as Nick, Maylin and Haruka approached the mantis, their keyblades at the ready.
"Didn't the lady ask you a question?" Maylin proclaimed.
"It's rude to take stuff without asking, you know," Haruka quipped.
The figure simply tugged on the mantis' ears, and it charged towards the trinity, but Haruka simply swung her keyblade, using her monstrous strength to easily knock the mantis off its course.
This allowed Nick to cast Fire on it, the flying fireball knocking the mantis for a loop and causing the figure riding it to hold on for dear life, just barely holding on to the book he'd taken from Yomiko.
Maylin followed up with a Blizzard spell, freezing the bottom half of the mantis in its tracks, allowing Yomiko to toss a long roll of red tape for the mantis' leg, and it wrapped all the way around it. Yomiko then tossed the other end of the tape roll into the ground beside her, where it inexplicably held taut.
With the mantis subdued, Yomiko began running towards it, climbing across the roof of a truck to get there.
"Can you please give me my book back?!" Yomiko exclaimed. "I just started reading it!"
The figure simply scoffed and attempted to open the jar containing his swarm, but Nick once again cast a Fire spell to stumble the figure long enough for Yomiko to finally retrieve the book she'd been trying to grab.
"Give it back this instant!" the figure shouted.
Only giving a cheeky smile in response, Yomiko snipped the tape with her fingers like they were a pair of scissors, severing the tape and sending the creature and his mantis mount flying across the street. The mantis eventually crashed into the side of a nearby building, sending the figure flying smack into the side of another building.
"Ouch," Maylin quipped.
In all the chaos that the mantis and its rider had caused, no one noticed a long black limousine arriving at the scene, its passenger looking out at the scene.
"Damn... we got here too late," Joker groaned, though he looked to the side and saw Yomiko lugging her suitcase off of the truck she'd jumped onto earlier. After pushing his way through the crowd, he addressed Yomiko, and she seemed surprised to see him there.
"Mister Joker?" Yomiko gasped.
"Yomiko, what on earth are you doing here?" Joker asked.
"I could ask you the same question," Yomiko admitted. "So... what exactly was that thing I just fought?"
"I'll explain on the way," Joker proclaimed. "But for now, I'll have to ask you to come with me, Agent Paper. And I'll be borrowing this."
To Yomiko's shock, Joker plucked her book from her grasp, and needless to say, Yomiko was not happy.
"H-Hey!" Yomiko shouted. "I haven't even read it yet!"
"You'll get it back when this is over," Joker answered, clearly used to Yomiko's mindset.
"When will that be?" Yomiko gasped.
"When the world ceases to be in peril," Joker replied.
"Can I at least read it on the way?!" Yomiko exclaimed.
"Those two sound like quite the pair," Maylin admitted, balancing Spellbinder on her shoulder. "Should we follow them?"
As if Joker had been waiting for them to ask that, he turned back to address the trinity.
"And, yes, I would like you three to come with us as well," Joker stated. "Your skills may be helpful to our mission."
"Welp, I guess that answers that question," Nick laughed as the trinity began to follow Yomiko and Joker, unaware of the mysterious blue-haired woman staring intently at both the corpse of the giant mantis and the figure itself, who had seemingly instantly decayed into a mere skeleton.
Joker moved his pen in a specific motion to activate the hidden mechanism and cause the desk area around them to descend, elevator-style, into the secret underground base of the British Library Special Forces.
Naturally, the trinity were quite impressed by what they were seeing.
"Wow, this place is awesome," Maylin quipped.
"I can tell Yomiko's right at home with all of these books," Nick laughed as he watched Yomiko stare in awe at the, quite likely, millions of books that lined the walls of the base.
"You truly do shine when you're surrounded by books, don't you, Agent Paper?" Joker teased. "...well, aside from that, you're rather hopeless."
Yomiko couldn't help but blush as Joker handed her a comb to fix her messy hair. As they walked towards a long hallway ending in an elaborate double door, Nick looked to the side and noticed what appeared to be a small treasure chest lying there on the side of the hallway.
"Um... girls, is there a treasure chest sitting there, or is it just me?" Nick asked.
"Try opening it with your keyblade," Sophia answered. "Chests like this usually contain something that will help you on your quest."
Nick did so, tapping the lid of the chest twice with the Kingdom Key. To his surprise, it actually opened, revealing a small bracelet inside.
"These accessories may look silly, but I'd recommend equipping them whenever you can, Nick," Haruka proclaimed. "A lot of them boost your attributes in different ways."
Nick scooped the bracelet out of the chest and clipped it around his wrist, immediately feeling a surge of power coursing through him.
"The Gentleman is waiting," Joker stated, opening the doors and allowing the group to enter into the room. "Mister Gentleman, I've brought Agent Paper and some other skilled people who may be able to help us."
An elderly man in a very unique wheelchair rolled up to the desk at the opposite end of the room. "Little Yomiko, look at how much you've grown," Gentleman proclaimed.
"It's been a while, sir," Yomiko answered.
"Now, then, allow me to explain the current situation as we understand it," Joker stated.
"Go ahead," Gentleman replied as Joker turned off the lights in the room, closed the window curtains and activated a projector machine, which displayed the image of what appeared to be the White House in Washington, D.C., only in shambles and ruins.
"Two days ago, Washington D.C. came under attack by a lone assailant," Joker explained. "He left many injured before making his way, on foot, to the Library of Congress, where he proceeded to steal over six hundred rare books before vanishing."
"Rare books?!" Yomiko gasped.
"Six hundred?!" Nick exclaimed.
"Representatives of the American government have just released a formal statement on the matter," Joker continued. "They want the assailant captured and the books returned. However, the circumstances seem to be far more complicated than just this."
Joker switched to a picture of what appeared to be the attacker in question, a middle-aged samurai-like man wearing what seemed like an electric generator on his back.
"This is a picture taken of the assailant, and he appears to be wearing the Elekiter, an electric generator built by Gennai Hiraga," Joker stated. "We have reason to believe that the assailant is none other than Gennai himself."
"Um, pardon me if I'm butting in, but I know my history, and I know for a fact that Gennai Hiraga's been dead for over two hundred years," Nick stated.
Joker then switched the projection to a large row of test tubes filled with green liquid and other... questionable parts.
"Oof, I'm gonna turbo-barf," Maylin groaned.
"About a year ago, several genetic samples of the great persons of history, or as we call them, I-Jin, were stolen from the Exemplary World Genome Archives," Joker explained. "And Gennai's DNA was among the missing. We can only assume that someone has created a clone of Gennai Hiraga and given him superhuman abilities in the process."
"Their objective?" Gentleman asked.
"Unknown, sir," Joker admitted as he reached out to read a report being typed up by the analysis of the book he'd plucked from Yomiko. "The grasshopper man that you all fought was carrying a copy of 'Fabre's Book of Insects', which can only mean that he was a clone of Jean Henri-Fabre."
"But... what would he want with me? I didn't do anything to him," Yomiko asked.
"And we just attacked him to help Yomiko get her book back," Haruka replied. "I shudder to think what kind of Heartless that mantis thing could've become..."
"He was not actually targeting you, but your book," Joker stated. "It's volume one, and the second volume was located in Washington D.C.."
"You think it was one of the ones that got stolen?" Maylin asked.
"Mister Gentleman, someone is using the I-Jin for a nefarious scheme," Joker proclaimed. "We have a plan, but all it needs is your approval."
"It's granted," Gentleman immediately responded.
"Thank you very much, sir," Joker stated. "As of now, the Section-E British Library shall empower its Special Forces Unit to retrieve the missing books."
Joker then turned to the trinity. "Will the three of you assist us?" Joker asked. "Like Agent Paper, your skills may prove incredibly useful in the retrieval mission."
"Helping people out is kinda our job, Mister Joker," Maylin quipped, twirling Spellbinder in her hand. "We were probably going to tag along either way, just to keep you guys safe if the Heartless decide to crash the party."
"Um... so, does this mean that I'm part of this, too?" Yomiko asked. "Because... I've already scheduled a teaching job for next well, and..."
"You're concerned over a teaching job when the world is in peril?" Joker asked, evidently used to Yomiko's antics by this point.
"B-But, even if the world is okay, I won't be if I miss another teaching job!" Yomiko responded.
"We can pay you once everything is in order," Joker stated.
"But it won't be enough!" Yomiko exclaimed. "This month was really expensive for me, and I still have to pay for the rest of that book!"
Joker couldn't help but facepalm, and Nick had to chuckle a bit. Joker had told the trinity about Yomiko's powers and abilities as a Paper Master, along with the fact that said powers came with a crippling addiction to books, as Yomiko was apparently displaying.
To Joker's surprise, Gentleman started laughing at the scene before him.
"You're still the same as ever, Yomiko," Gentleman chuckled. "You could never plan ahead for anything. How about this? On top of your payment, we'll also give you the second volume of your book."
And that perked Yomiko up right away. "Y-you mean that?!" Yomiko proclaimed. "I'll do my best, sir!"
"Are you sure, Mister Gentleman?" Joker asked.
"My decision on this is final," Gentleman responded, and Joker could only sigh in frustration, even as Yomiko extended a hand to him.
"Book?" Yomiko asked, evidently wanting her book back.
"After the analysis," Joker retorted, placing the book on a conveyor belt.
"Things are getting interesting already, huh?" Nick quipped as he, Maylin, and Haruka all huddled up to discuss what would probably be waiting in the White House.
"No kidding," Maylin answered. "Hey, while we're there, let's see if anyone can help us out with Sophia. There's gotta be something we can do to recover her missing memories..."
"Anything you can think of, Sophia?" Haruka wondered.
"Nothing comes to mind currently," Sophia replied. "But I know you will do your best to help me find my missing memories."
One flight to the White House later, Yomiko was currently reading her book (having finally got it back after an analysis that took far longer than she'd thought), and the trinity were all talking to Sophia, wondering what else she knew.
Just then, one of Joker's agents forcibly opened the door of the helicopter they were currently in.
"Listen, you!" Drake Anderson shouted, addressing Yomiko (who, obviously, was too engrossed in her book to notice). "I read my horoscope this morning, and it said I was gonna have an excellent day. Despite that, the day barely gets started and then I get a call from Joker, and he tells me that I'm supposed to be your support team. So, how about you explain this: if this is supposed to be a lucky day, what's a bad day look like?!"
But Yomiko continued to ignore him, that is, until Drake plucked the book from her hands and put it behind him even as she tried to make a grab for it.
"Mission time. Move it," Drake proclaimed.
"R-Right!" Yomiko stuttered.
"Man, this place really took it on the chin," Maylin quipped as the trinity explored the areas that were destroyed or damaged in Gennai's attack, while Yomiko moved on to the library area (which was thankfully mostly undamaged) to bask in all of its books. "I'm almost reminded of that one movie where aliens attacked the White House..."
"Which one? Because I'm sure that's a common thing in movies, especially in different worlds," Haruka teased.
"Enemy approaching!" Sophia exclaimed, causing the trinity to summon their keyblades as a pack of wizard-like Heartless appeared, resembling the Red Nocturnes, only blue in color instead of red.
"I'm going to guess that these are ice mages?" Nick stated.
"Correct-a-mundo," Maylin proclaimed as she aimed Spellbinder towards one of the floating Heartless. "The Blue Rhapsody is pretty much the opposite of the Red Nocturne: uses ice attacks, don't use ice against it, hit it with fire."
"Sounds simple enough," Nick responded, channeling magic power into the Kingdom Key and launching a Fire spell from the tip of the blade, which flew through the air and struck a Blue Rhapsody, instantly obliterating it.
It didn't take too much longer to clear the area of Heartless, thankfully, with Sophia registering the Blue Rhapsody's info in the Gummiphone.
"Man, I'm glad these things aren't immune to magic," Maylin quipped. "I'm, by my own admission, not the best when it comes to physical combat, since I mostly rely on my magic to do damage. If these things were immune to my primary method of delivering pain, I'd probably freak out."
"I'm sure there's a version of you somewhere out there in the multiverse who's doing that right about now," Haruka laughed.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Nick admitted.
Meanwhile, Yomiko was reaching for a certain book, only for someone else to make a grab for it at the same time. And even stranger, Yomiko recognized this woman as the same one she'd seen back at the bookstore in Jinbocho. And with her dark blue hair and similar eyes, she definitely stood out.
"Oh, it's you," Yomiko quipped.
"So, we meet again, miss Paper," the woman replied, causing Yomiko's face to light up when she realized that this was the other agent Joker had talked about. "The name's Miss Deep."
"Miss... Deep?" Yomiko asked, a little confused.
"Joker's told me a lot about you, but I never expected I'd bump into you in a bookstore in Tokyo, of all places," Miss Deep stated.
"Wait, that means you were trying to get that book, too, right?" Yomiko asked.
"Under Joker's orders," Miss Deep replied.
"So... my name's Yomiko Readman," Yomiko proclaimed, only to not get a response initially. "I figured... maybe if we know each other's names, we could get to know each other better."
"We've got a working relationship as field agents, so codenames will work just fine," Miss Deep replied, though she did crack a smile as she extended her hand to Yomiko. "Either way, it's nice to work with you, Agent Paper."
Yomiko excitedly moved to shake Miss Deep's hand...
...only for her own hand to pass right through.
"D-Did... did you just..." Yomiko gasped.
Miss Deep chuckled before seemingly disappearing completely, her clothes (and wig) falling to the floor. While Yomiko was gawking over what the heck just happened, Miss Deep came up through the floor, phasing through it like she was Shadowcat of the X-Men, before flipping over Yomiko and playfully pinching her cheek. Now, Miss Deep was wearing a rather revealing tactical suit, and her hair was down.
"And that's my superpower," Miss Deep chuckled. "I can dive straight through solid objects, hence the name 'Deep'. You left yourself wide open, you know. Are you really not that much in a fight, Agent Paper?"
Miss Deep would quickly regret those words when she moved to teasingly remove Yomiko's glasses, in which Yomiko dodged so quickly Miss Deep almost couldn't follow it, then retaliated by throwing a piece of paper upwards so fast that it nearly got her nose, forcing her to flip backwards.
"I-I'm so sorry, it's just... I've got this thing about my glasses," Yomiko stammered.
Before Miss Deep could reply to that, Nick, Maylin and Haruka all dashed into the library, their keyblades out.
"You two, get your butts down here!" Maylin shouted. "Trouble just showed up!"
Before Yomiko could ask what that trouble was, it showed up, an old man riding a strange mechanical glider contraption.
"I am the great Otto Lilienthal, and I am here for the book!" the old man shouted as he aimed his glider for Yomiko, barreling her over and stealing the book in her hands before charging towards Maylin.
"Force, know my plight! Release the light! THUNDER!" Maylin chanted, thrusting Spellbinder forward to unleash a bolt of lightning from the tip of her keyblade that struck Otto's glider and forced him to divert his course outside even while Miss Deep shot at him.
"You cannot kill the wind with bullets," Otto laughed. "You can't stop me!"
Otto activated a special mechanism on his glider's console, which caused the glider to fold in its wings and take off at super speeds.
Drake could only groan in frustration even as Yomiko came running towards him, with the trinity and Miss Deep following.
"DRAAAAAAAAAAKE!" Yomiko shouted. "That guy took off with my book! We've gotta follow him right now!"
"The target's been confirmed as an I-Jin, too," Nick quipped. "We need to motor."
The team wasted no time in boarding a helicopter to chase down Otto, as he appeared to be heading towards New York City at the moment.
Meanwhile, in New York City, three military helicopters were already pursuing Otto and his glider with machine-gun fire, only for Otto to easily dodge the shots.
"You'll have to do much better than that, shatzi," Otto taunted as he maneuvered his glider through the streets of New York City, dropping bombs on two of the helicopters and even flying straight through a nearby building.
While all this was happening, another helicopter carrying Yomiko, Miss Deep, Drake, and the trinity continued to approach the city.
"Air Force isn't doing too good out there," Drake quipped.
"They don't stand a chance if they keep fighting him in the air," Miss Deep proclaimed.
"It looks like they've got a huge platoon of copters ready to blast him out of the sky if he tries anything," Haruka stated, noticing a massive fleet of helicopters flying over a nearby bridge.
Nick, however, noticed a small green light coming from one of the bridge pillars. Though he had to strain his vision a bit, he quickly discovered that it was the I-Jin clone of Gennai Hiraga who had attacked the White House...
...and he was looking up at the helicopters.
Nick didn't even have time to shout at the fleet to get away before Gennai channeled electricity from all over the city, causing a temporary blackout, before releasing that energy as a storm of green lightning bolts that effortlessly eviscerated the entire helicopter fleet...
...and everyone who was undoubtedly still inside those helicopters.
Only the British Library helicopter still stood, though it was severely malfunctioning, forcing its passengers to jump out to the rooftop of a nearby building. Their helicopter fell to the ground with a loud crash as power slowly returned to the city.
"Oh, my lord..." Nick gasped when he was able to survey the carnage caused by Gennai. "They're... they're all gone... just like that..."
"It's never easy, is it?" Maylin replied, putting her hand on Nick's shoulder. She knew the feeling, after all, that feeling of being just a fraction of a moment too late.
"Well, what do we do now?" Drake asked.
"If only there was some other way..." Miss Deep sighed.
Yomiko, determination highlighting her face, pulled out a few pamphlets. "There's always my way," Yomiko responded.
Yomiko placed her suitcase on the ground and opened it, causing an absolute cascade of papers of many different shapes and sizes to start streaming about. Yomiko quickly went to work, using her Paper Master powers to create a massive paper airplane.
"Oh, you're kidding me," Drake groaned.
"She's insane," Miss Deep quipped.
"Hurry up! He's gonna get away!" Yomiko exclaimed as Nick, Maylin, and Haruka jumped on board.
Drake simply handed Miss Deep his machine gun even as she reluctantly clambered aboard so that Drake could heft the paper plane above him.
"Now don't you dare blame me if you die," Drake proclaimed.
"I already do!" Miss Deep shouted.
Drake counted down from three, then tossed the paper plane forward, though it dipped down slightly before achieving proper orientation, allowing Yomiko to fly it into the city after Otto.
"All right, so how are we going to do this?" Maylin asked.
"I think we need to get close enough to that machine so we can let him have it," Nick quipped. "Can you handle the piloting, Yomiko?"
"Just leave it to me!" Yomiko giggled.
It wasn't too long before they acquired their target just casually gliding through the alleyways.
"Perhaps I should be heading back," Otto stated before he noticed the group approaching him.
Nick made the first move, spinning the Kingdom Key in his hands before launching a Fire spell to strike the engine of Otto's glider. This allowed Yomiko to pilot the plane closer to the glider.
"Um, could you please give me back my book?" Yomiko gasped.
"Land the bird or you're going into a nosedive," Maylin proclaimed, electricity crackling along Spellbinder's blade.
"Insolent whelps! You wish to feel the full fury of the Glider King, do you?!" Otto shouted, moving his glider closer.
Nick countered by swinging the Kingdom Key a few times to attack Otto's glider, leaving sizable dents in its armor. After a few swings, time seemed to slow down for Nick, and the tip of the Kingdom Key sparkled.
Wonder what this means? Nick thought as he felt a new power coursing through him, much like when he'd used the Ability Crystal that Haruka had given him. When time went back to normal for him, Nick swung Kingdom Key upward, unleashing a large ruby-red aura around him that exploded into lots of flashing red sparkles upon contact with Otto's glider.
"Yeah, suck on that!" Nick shouted.
"Nice move, Nick!" Maylin proclaimed.
"What're you gonna call that one?" Haruka asked.
Nick thought for a couple seconds. "Ripple Drive," Nick answered.
"Sounds cool!" Maylin giggled as she took advantage of Otto's recoil to blast the side of the glider with a Blizzard spell, then a Fire spell before Otto flew off to the side.
"Miss Deep, I think I've got a plan here!" Yomiko exclaimed.
Miss Deep nodded as if to say "let's hear it".
As the aerial battle approached the Statue of Liberty, Miss Deep readied herself to jump off, as Yomiko had instructed.
"Be careful down there, got it?" Haruka proclaimed.
"I could say the same for all of you," Miss Deep chuckled as she leaped off of the paper plane and straight through the top floor of the Statue of Liberty, phasing through everything in her path until she reached a stairway that led back to the top floor.
While all this was happening, Yomiko continued to maneuver the paper plane around and avoid Otto's attacks while the trinity attacked with everything they had, hoping to ground the mad glider before too long. Yomiko had created a long string of papers flying outwards from the left wing of the glider, as per her plan.
Suddenly, a shadow passed over Otto, and he looked up to see a large, wyvern-like Heartless looming over his glider. It was a large, draconian creature with predominantly brown skin, save for its belly, which was tan, and its shoulders, feet, and the tip of its tail, all of which were black. Its body was rather thin, while its three-toed feet were quite large, each sporting orange talons. Its wings seemed rather short and bulky when compared to its feet and tail, and it had light orange wingtips. The creature's tail ended in a large, misshapen club with three conical, orange spikes on it, and its head was V-shaped and flat. It had beady yellow eyes on either side of its head, and its Heartless emblem was on its chest.
"W-what monster..." Otto gasped. "Away with you, avian menace!"
No matter what maneuvers Otto attempted to shake the creature off, the Dustflier continued to attack it, forcing Otto to fly away...
...towards the Statue of Liberty, where Miss Deep was waiting with a large hook.
"Thank you for flying the friendly skies," Miss Deep proclaimed as she raised the hook to catch the paper trail that Yomiko had planted, and when Otto tried to escape, it simply yanked him back and caused his glider to spin around and around until it crashed into the statue's "flame" and exploded rather spectacularly, taking Otto out with it. Miss Deep reached out to catch Yomiko's boo, thankfully undamaged, having fallen out during the spinning.
"We got him!" Yomiko exclaimed.
"Yeah, but now we have this thing to deal with," Nick proclaimed as the Dustflier advanced on them. "Keep the plane steady, Yomiko!"
"Roger that," Yomiko replied.
The Dustflier slowly circled the paper plane for a few seconds before rushing to attack Nick with its claws. Nick raised the Kingdom Key into a parrying stance that deflected the claw attack and left the Dustflier open for him to land a few swings on its body before it flew back again.
Maylin pelted the Dustflier with a few Fire spells from afar before the Dustflier ascended higher, then proceeded to dive-bomb the paper plane. Nick quickly unleashed a Ripple Drive that blasted the Dustflier into a tailspin.
"Ooh, he really didn't like that," Nick stated.
The Dustflier quickly righted itself before opening its mouth and roaring, creating eight large fireballs around its body, then charging forward, hoping to burn up the paper that was holding the plane together.
"Not today, fuzz breath!" Maylin shouted, casting Blizzard to extinguish the fireballs and allow Haruka to get a good few hits in. The Dustflier eventually recovered and swung its lower legs in a somersault kick that rocked the plane, but Yomiko was able to steady it quickly.
"All right, that wasn't nice," Nick taunted as the Dustflier rushed him with another sweeping claw strike. Nick guarded against the strike, leaving the Dustflier open, then moved closer and struck with a Slapshot attack, bending the Dustflier's head back almost double. Maylin fired off one final Thunder spell to strike the Dustflier in the chest and finally finish it off.
Struggling to keep its altitude, the Dustflier eventually went into a tailspin, though it dissolved into nothingness before it could get anywhere close to the ground, a large glowing heart escaping from its remains and vanishing into the sky.
"And boom!" Maylin proclaimed. "One annoying Heartless served up extra-crispy! Just the way I like it!"
Yomiko piloted the paper plane towards the Statue of Liberty where Miss Deep was waiting, eventually jumping off of it and rushing to retrieve her book.
"Hey, calm down," Miss Deep chuckled. "Honestly, what's worth more, your life or your book?"
Yomiko didn't really have a response to that.
"Well, either way, you've definitely proven to be a useful agent," Miss Deep replied before offering her hand to Yomiko, though the Paper Master touched it hesitantly, knowing what had happened before. But then, Miss Deep actually grabbed Yomiko's hand, which really made her smile.
"Thank you so much, Miss Deep," Yomiko giggled.
"Nancy," Miss Deep responded. "Nancy Makuhari."
"But, didn't you...?" Yomiko wondered.
"It's all right, really," Nancy admitted. "I really don't like my code name, to be fair. Makes me sound too much like a cheesy adult actress."
"I'm Yomiko. Yomiko Readman," Yomiko answered.
"I know, you told me," Nancy chuckled.
Just then, a bright light caught the entire group's attention, and they all looked up to the Statue of Liberty's "flame", which was now glowing a bright white and sported a large keyhole shape.
Maylin and Haruka gasped in surprise when they realized what they were seeing.
"Um..." Nick quipped.
"That is the world's keyhole," Sophia answered. "As I mentioned before, it leads to the heart of a world. If you lock it with your keyblade, the world's heart will be safe."
Nick nodded to Sophia before raising the Kingdom Key towards the keyhole in question, silver light shining around its tip before firing a beam of light into the keyhole. Reality seemed to shatter around the keyhole for a second, before a loud "CLICK" resounded and the keyhole vanished, leaving behind only a small, green block.
"Hey, that's a Gummi Block," Haruka stated. "It doesn't look like any of the others I've seen, though..."
"Think we oughta hold on to it?" Maylin wondered.
"Good idea," Nick replied.
"So, what are the three of you gonna do now?" Yomiko asked the trinity.
"Guess we'd better get going," Nick responded. "There's lots of other places to explore, after all."
Yomiko reached into her jacket before bringing out another piece of paper, then slashing her hand across it in many different motions, using her Paper Master powers to carve it into a small shape that resembled Yomiko's glasses.
"Take this with you, then," Yomiko quipped. "Something to help you on your own adventures."
"It kinda looks like a keychain," Nick stated.
"Hey, Nick, try attaching it to your keyblade," Haruka immediately answered.
Nick did just that, summoning the Kingdom Key back to his hands and attaching the paper glasses to the spot on the keychain where its token rested. With a new token attached, the Kingdom Key transformed into an entirely new keyblade. This particular keyblade had a handleguard that resembled the wheels on Gentleman's chair, a hilt that resembled the body of Otto's glider, a long blade made up of the pamphlets Yomiko had used to make her plane, teeth resembling the book Yomiko had fought tooth and nail to retrieve, and the token was connected by a keychain of paper links. The words Paper Master ran through Nick's head when he studied it, no doubt the name of this new keyblade.
"If you ever find a keychain out there, Nick, try attaching it to your keyblade like that," Haruka explained. "Every keychain you attach will give your keyblade a different form, and with it, new powers as well."
"Sounds very interesting," Nick proclaimed.
"Say, Sophia, you seem to know a lot about the keyblade and what it can do," Haruka quipped. "Is there a reason for that, or is it one of the things you forgot?"
"Sadly, no such answer exists in my database," Sophia answered. "I only know that I know this information, not why I know this information."
"Seems like that's something only your creator could fix for you, huh?" Maylin wondered. "Let's keep an eye out for whoever that is while we keep exploring, huh? For Sophia's sake, if nothing else."
"Come on, you guys, let's get back to the Gummi Ship," Haruka proclaimed. "We might find some more information in another world."
Haruka activated the wristwatch device strapped to her wrist, and a large beam of light surrounded the trinity before teleporting them back onto the Gummi Ship.
After making sure everything was calibrated correctly, Haruka started up the Gummi Ship, and it began flying off towards the next world that was in need of their assistance.
Now Nick was more curious than ever about Sophia and the Gummiphone she was currently inside of.
Who had created her, and for what purpose?
To be continued...
New keyblade acquired!
Paper Master
Strength: 7
MP: +1
Recoil: 45
Critical Rate: x2
Critical Bonus: +2
Ability: Combo Plus
Description: A keyblade representing the world's Paper Masters. Has a long reach and good chance to deal critical blows. Adds one step to your ground combos (equip more to extend your combo further).
On the next episode...
Maylin: And this place looks like one of those fancy Greek coliseums that people like to fight in.
Haruka: I wonder if we'll get to do some fightin'.
Maylin: Oh, don't you start now, of all times...
Nick: Well, Haruka, it looks like you might get your wish.
Haruka: ...wait, really?
Nick: It looks like there's something suspicious going on here, and we're probably gonna have to enter the tournament here if we're gonna get to the bottom of it.
Haruka: Oh, I'm all for that.
Nick: Well, we'll see if we're actually tournament-worthy on the next episode of Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse, "Under the Flag of the Knights"!
Sophia: May your hearts be your guiding key!