A/N:
Damn, juggling two stories is hard. Sorry for the wait, all. If it's any consolation, once I finish up my other fic (which I'll have done before the end of the year) I'll be devoting all my writing effort into this fic.
And now, for a chapter entirely dedicated to two-thirds of the Destiny Trio!
Kairi was hot.
She wasn't being conceited, nor did she think that highly of her looks. No, this was different. Kairi felt physically hot. Actually, she was pretty sure she was overheating and possibly dehydrated. She blearily opened her eyes and spat out a mouthful of sand.
Ugh. Sand. And not the comfortable beach kind, either.
Apparently she was in a desert, if the sweltering hot sun was anything to go by. It reminded her of Agrabah, but taking a look around her confirmed that she was definitely not on Aladdin and Jasmine's world. For one, there were no rolling dunes and the sand beneath her hands wasn't fine and light. It was rough and coarse. It was actually more akin to the wastelands she saw in the Badlands on Simba's world or the cracked, dry landscape in the Keyblade Graveyard. The desert before her stretched for miles with no discernible changes in elevation. She could see a large mountain looming in the distance, but that was about it.
"...Kairi?"
Turning around, she saw Riku similarly lying on the sand. He'd since propped himself up on his elbows and was looking around at their surroundings, a deep frown on his face. He slowly stood up and dusted himself off, a faint cloud of sand poofing off of his clothes. He outstretched a hand for Kairi, but the Princess of Heart was already getting to her feet without his help.
"I've got it." She assured him. Likewise, she dusted off the layer of sand that was finding its way into every crevice of her outfit. "I'm a big girl, Riku."
"Jiminy?" Riku called out. "You still with us?"
"That's quite the headache…" A small, yet sophisticated voice answered. Kairi felt her hood shuffle before the cricket in question popped his head out. He pointed forward past Riku. "I will be fine. That raises some questions, however…"
She looked past him and had to mentally correct herself. As it turned out, they weren't completely out in the open. They were still in a desert, for certain, with no visible towns or cities nearby. What was nearby, she realized, was a ship. A half-buried, stranded ship in the middle of a desert, but a ship nonetheless.
And it was huge. Broken in half, sure, but massive.
It could easily be mistaken for a cruise liner due to its size, but given the lack of visible sources of entertainment up top – not that she could see much of anything from their angle – it was more than likely a cargo ship instead. Scrawled across its bow was the name of the ship, the S.S. Libra. Apart from the name, the only other thing that stuck out to Kairi was the massive circular insignia that decorated its side. It looked like a massive red and white circle, with the red dominating the upper half and the white taking the lower half. Directly in the center, where each semicircle met, was a smaller white circle which was bordered with black, the very same black which ultimately separated the two semicircles. It was probably a logo of some sort, if she had to guess.
"What happened here…?" Riku mumbled as he looked upon the wreck.
"Somehow I doubt this world has flying ships." Kairi answered, her eyes looking at what looked like an impact crater under the halves of the ship. "... and this looks recent, I think. If it were older, I think the sand would have covered it up more."
"You're right." Riku agreed as he began walking towards the ship. Kairi noticed that he was walking towards a gaping hole in the side of the ship. "I doubt Sora and his friends are in here, but we should check it out anyway."
Kairi hummed in agreement as she jogged to catch up to her silver-haired friend. As she and Riku walked through the orifice in the side of the ship, she noted that not only was this decidedly not a door, but the hole looked like it had been blasted inward. Someone, or something, forced its way in from the outside. Given what she'd learned about this world and its particularly monstrous creatures, she was in no hurry to find what might have created such an entrance.
"Hello?!" Kairi called out once they'd entered the ship. Her voice rebounded and echoed around. They waited, only to find no answer came in return.
"Guess no one's home." Riku said, his brow furrowing. "Why did we land here, though?"
"You're the master here, Riku." Kairi shrugged. She was still a novice at this whole 'Power of Waking' stuff compared to Riku. If he didn't know, why would she?
"Well, this ship isn't going to explore itself." Riku said with a sigh. "Maybe we can find something here to help us while we're stranded in this world. Sora always said he came across random items during his travels that helped."
With that, the duo began to explore the inner workings of the ruined cargo ship. This was definitely a cargo ship of some sort, given the shipping containers hidden deep within the hull. Kairi was ready to unlock the containers with her Keyblade, but Riku stopped her, pointing at the broken locks. Someone had been in here already.
"Yep, we're definitely not the first ones here." Riku stated, cautiously entering the shipping container.
Kairi followed wordlessly. What little light was filtering in from outside revealed several emptied boxes and crates. Each of the crates had that strange red and white logo painted on them. She peered into one of the closest ones and saw some insulated padding inside with many semi-spherical divots within, all of them empty. She lifted the first layer of padding and saw many more just like it, just as empty.
"I wonder what was in here…" Kairi mumbled. Were these some sort of children's toy? That was the only item she could think of that would be mass-shipped like this and would fit in these divots. If that was the case, why break in so violently and steal them? Surely children's toys weren't worth that much on this world, right?
A glint of light caught her eye as she closed the crate. It was coming from a narrow space between the crates. She looked around, cautious and wary, and only saw Riku investigating a crate of his own. She walked over and reached into the crevice, angling her head to the side so she could reach further in. At first she felt only the wood of the crate and floor, but then her fingers brushed against something cold and metallic. Carefully, she grabbed ahold of it; it was a sphere about the size of a golf ball. She pulled her hand free of the gap and looked down at her prize.
A sphere that looked remarkably similar to the red and white logo greeted her. She twisted it in her hand; whatever this was, it was remarkably simplistic in its design. Too big to be a marble, too small to be anything sports-related, she imagined.
"Hey Riku." Kairi called out over her shoulder. "I think I found something."
She stood up, still inspecting the curious ball in her hand. She glanced over and saw Riku approach with one just like it in his hand.
"I see you found one too." He observed. "I have no idea what this is, but I think these crates were full of them. Whoever came in to loot this ship must've missed these two."
Kairi rolled the ball in her fingers absent-mindedly as she glanced around the room. There had to be something to this. Suddenly she felt the sphere grow to about the size of an orange; she almost dropped it in surprise, but managed to keep ahold of it.
"What did you do?" Riku asked, looking back and forth between her ball and his. After a moment, he pressed down on the smaller white circle dividing the red and white halves and his ball grew as well. "Whoa."
"I have so many questions." Kairi chuckled. She pressed the button on her ball and it shrank down again. "If we ever find a town or something here, we should ask."
Riku hummed in agreement. "Well, we probably shouldn't blatantly ask. For all we know, this is a commonplace item and we don't want to make it obvious that we're not from around here."
"Good point." Kairi agreed. She placed the ball in her pocket and looked around. "Now where to?"
Riku cupped his chin in thought. "We should see if we can get to the top of this thing. It might give us a better vantage point of the area."
The two began exploring the ship some more, finding each room to be just as abandoned as the last. Even the bridge was empty, with no sign of anyone having manned the vessel at all. Where was the crew? There weren't any signs of footprints outside, at least none she remembered seeing. Breaking out of her inner musings, she walked over to Riku, who was standing at the bridge window and was peering outside.
"See anything?" Kairi asked as she looked outside. There wasn't a whole lot to be seen. Despite the difference in elevation, the desert seemed to stretch on forever. There was that enormous mountain to the north, sure, but apart from that she couldn't see much.
Riku pointed to the west. "I think I see something over there. It looks like a mesa but there's a little bit of light reflecting off of it."
Kairi looked over, squinting her eyes. Eventually she found what he was talking about. There was definitely something resembling a mesa or plateau in the distance and there was something on it that was reflecting light. A building, perhaps?
"Think we should go there?" Kairi asked. "Maybe there's a town over there."
"It's a good place to start." Riku suggested as the duo made their way down the bowels of the wrecked ship. It didn't take them long to reach the hole in the side of the ship they entered from. Stepping out onto the hot sand again, Kairi held up her arm to shield herself from the sun's harsh rays. As they walked forward, Kairi's stomach dropped as she came to a realization.
"Umm…" Kairi muttered, drawing Riku's attention. "... How are we supposed to get there? That's a lot of desert to cross and I don't think we have enough supplies to make the trek."
Riku laughed while Kairi looked at him with suspicion. What was so funny about this situation? They were out in the middle of nowhere, with barely enough rations and no feasible way of crossing a desert. How was this funny?!
"I think we can make it." Riku stated as he summoned his Keyblade. He tossed the weapon into the air and Kairi watched in amazement as it began to twist and morph into a glider. She'd seen Aqua do the same with her Keyblade, but never imagined Riku was capable of the same feat. He jumped and hopped into the seat and then patted the space behind him. He shot her a confident grin.
"Well, come on. Sora's not going to find himself now, is he?"
"Light, what happened here?"
Kairi looked around at the sheer devastation around them. She and Riku walked into the town – Riku had dismissed his glider early to maintain a low profile – to find a very concerning sight. Kairi could tell this town wasn't in the best condition as it was, given the slapdash metallic design of most buildings, but something told her it wasn't normally supposed to look this damaged.
Honestly? It looked like a war zone.
The town was clearly in the stages of recovery from some attack. There were black marks singed into nearby walls, impact craters in the ground, and some of the townsfolk were sporting injuries. Fortunately, those that looked injured seemed to have received medical attention, if the casts and bandages were anything to go off of, but regardless this town had clearly suffered something terrible.
"Looks like they were attacked…" Riku guessed. He walked up to someone who looked like someone of authority and tapped him on the shoulder.
The officer turned around and gave Riku an inquisitive look. "Can I help you?"
"My friend and I just arrived in town. What happened here?"
The officer sighed, taking off his cap and wiping the sweat off his brow. He placed the cap back on. "As you can see, we were attacked recently."
Their suspicions confirmed, Kairi stepped forward to join the conversation. "Who attacked you, sir?"
"We're not sure." The officer admitted, a pained look on his face. "Damn things looked like nothing we've ever seen. Our Pokedexes couldn't even identify them, but I doubt they were Pokemon with how they acted."
"Are there still any around?" Riku asked. While he hadn't assumed a battle stance, Kairi could tell Riku was ready to jump into action if necessary.
The officer shook his head. "No, we were able to fend them off, but not without casualties."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Kairi offered, prompting a surprised response from the officer.
"We appreciate the offer, but we've got everything mostly wrapped up." The officer smiled, though she wasn't sure if it was one of those polite smiles or a genuine one.
Unsure of what to do next and clearly unable to assist with the recovery efforts, she and Riku found themselves wandering the town. She idly noted the dilapidated – or had it actually been damaged? – sign that told her the name of the town they found themselves in. Pyrite Town. Wasn't pyrite a mineral or a metal or something? She remembered learning something about it in geology class back home.
And wasn't that an odd reminder of what her life was now. By all rights, she should be home sitting in boring math, science, or history classes. She should be worrying about high school drama, or finishing her homework on time, or trying out for a sports team or something.
Instead, she was exploring a desert on a new world in what was probably a parallel universe. Exploring a new world that was rumored to be populated with dangerous monsters that the locals tamed for fun, all the while trained and equipped to summon one of her universe's most powerful weapons at the flick of her wrist.
Perspective was everything, apparently.
"Definitely not like home…" Riku muttered, probably to himself but just loud enough for her to hear.
As she looked around, she had to agree. Working alongside the residents of Pyrite Town were a wide variety of strange creatures that were helping in their own ways. Something that looked like a gray bodybuilder wearing nothing but a pair of briefs, with rippling muscles and a ridged scalp. Another creature that looked like a flaming horse trotted along, pulling a small wagon full of scrap and debris. What looked like a floating ghost shaped like an old woman's head, complete with a string of pearls around its neck, though its remarkably younger-looking face gave it a sort of cuteness that Kairi couldn't place. A gray-black creature that looked remarkably like a hippo seemed to be molding the earth itself with astonishing ease.
Yeah, definitely not anything like home.
"These have gotta be those Pokemon things they told us about." Kairi whispered, earning a sagely nod of agreement from Riku.
"Probably. They look pretty common, but I don't remember coming across any on the ride here. If they're this world's animals, you'd think there'd be more of them around."
"True… maybe they're bred and traded like dogs or something." Kairi mused, thinking back on what she knew of the Dalmatians. Specifically bred pets were a commonality among many worlds. Then her eyes landed on a Pokemon that actually looked like a dog. It was adorable! Cute little brown thing was trying to help its trainer – she was sure that was the right word – clear away debris by shooting at the pile with a flurry of rocks.
"That… might not be too far from the truth." Riku agreed as his eyes found the adorable brown pup as well.
The dog-looking Pokemon stopped what it was doing and looked their way, almost as if it knew it was being talked about. Its trainer either didn't notice or didn't care as the little pup trotted over towards them, and it was all Kairi could do not to squeal in poorly-restrained glee.
"Ruff!" The dog Pokemon barked, tongue idly hanging out as it looked her in the eyes.
"Well aren't you the most adorable thing I've ever seen!" Kairi cooed as she knelt down to pet it. The creature leaned into the touch, and she felt her heart melt even more.
"Rockruff, are you bothering random strangers again?" An amused, if a little exasperated, voice called out. Kairi looked up and saw the Pokemon's trainer approach with a fond smile. She had blonde hair that was mostly pulled up into the purple bandana she wore on her head. The rest of her purple and red colored attire was mostly form-fitting, though Kairi could tell it was a good style for desert living because of the cover it gave from the sun and sand. "Sorry about her. She always gets excited around new people."
"It's no problem at all!" Kairi chirped as she idly scratched under Rockruff's chin. "We were just passing through anyway, so no harm done."
"Ah, you missed all the action then." The blonde scoffed, and Kairi couldn't help but frown at the implications and the tone.
"What happened?" Riku asked. "We tried talking with the police, but they didn't give us much. You were attacked?"
The blonde nodded. "Yeah, bunch of Shadows came in outta nowhere and were out for blood. Never seen so many at once, and I've never seen 'em look like that. Name's Enok, by the way."
"I'm Riku, and this is Kairi." Riku introduced for the two of them. "And what do you mean by "Shadows"?"
That sounded an awful lot like Heartless, and Kairi was really hoping not to run into them so soon. Sure, they were warned that they might come across some here, but was it too much to ask for at least a couple of days before their first sighting?
"Y'know, Shadows." Enok clarified unhelpfully. A moment of awkward silence passed as she was met only by confused stares by Riku and Kairi. "Shadow Pokemon? What, you two tourists or somethin'?"
"Or something." Riku provided just as unhelpfully.
"Huh. Can't imagine why you'd want to visit Orre, but whatever." Enok shrugged. "Cipher takes regular Pokemon and closes the doors to their hearts or some nonsense. Makes 'em more irritable and likely to lash out, though most have trainers to keep a handle on 'em. This was the first I'd ever seen of wild Shadows."
"Cipher?" Kairi asked, her hand wandering up to scratch Rockruff's ear.
"Like Team Rocket in Kanto, or Aqua and Magma in Hoenn. It's like every region needs a criminal organization, really. Always gotta have somebody trying to make it hard on the rest of us."
"Well, I'm glad you're all okay at least." Kairi tried to give a smile.
"Heh, thanks." Enok almost scoffed. "Probably would've been worse if it weren't for Ketchum and his posse."
"Ketchum?" Riku asked.
"Yeah, some guys claimin' to be the Ash Ketchum was in town, though I'll tell you what, he definitely fought like a Champion. He and his crew fought off more than half of the Shadows. Even had one of 'em swinging around some ridiculously big key thing to fend 'em off. Seemed to work, at least."
"Key thing?" Riku asked, just as Kairi's heart felt a glimmer of hope. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the dude was jumpin' all over the place, swinging this giant hunk of metal shaped like a key like it was a sword. Looked ridiculous but he was swingin' it like a pro. Took out more of the Shadows himself than the Pokemon his posse had actually."
Sora! That had to be Sora! She looked up at Riku, who was putting up one heck of a poker face at the revelation. Realizing that he was on the right track, she schooled her features. But still! He was alive and…
…fighting Heartless. Right.
"That actually sounds like a friend of ours." Riku said. "You wouldn't happen to know if they're still in town, would you?"
Enok shook her head. "Nah, they left town afterwards. At least, I'm pretty sure. Haven't seen 'em since the attack, honestly."
"Any idea where they went?"
"Nope, but they seemed to know what they were doing, and Ketchum's a Snagger. You could try goin' over to that Professor's place. He's probably the one that gave Ketchum the authority to start snaggin', so you could try startin' your search there." Enok offered. "Hell, he might even be able to get you in contact with 'im."
That… was something. Kairi stopped petting Rockruff – much to the dog's dismay – and stood up. "How can we get to this professor?"
"Pretty easy. Just head northwest from here. Keep going once you reach the green." Enok explained, bringing out a small map from her pack. "Right about here's where you'll find Krane's lab. They don't let just anyone in from the public, though. Mention your friend's name and maybe you can talk with him."
"That's very helpful, thank you." Riku gave a quick nod of his head. "Well, we know where to go then. Ready, Kairi?"
"Yes! Thank you so much, Enok." Kairi smiled.
"Eh, don't mention it." She waved them off. "You sure made Rockruff's day, so you're good people. Just stay safe out there, yeah? Keep your Pokemon close."
"Right." Riku said, the smallest hint of uncertainty in his voice. "We'll make sure to do that."
It was at that moment that Kairi spotted someone not too far away hold out one of those sphere things and point it at a Pokemon. A red beam shot out, enveloping the creature before it seemed to draw it into the ball. There was no resistance from the Pokemon, strangely enough, and before she knew it the trainer tossed out another ball. The second ball opened up in a flash of light, revealing a new Pokemon that looked ready and raring to go. Kairi's brows shot up as she suddenly understood exactly what it was she and Riku were in possession of.
"I don't think that'll be a problem." Kairi added, and Riku cocked an eyebrow at her in confusion. "Thanks again, Enok! Maybe we'll see you around!"
"Yeah, see ya around." The blonde said, waving them off before leading Rockruff back to the debris pile and back to work.
Kairi took Riku by the wrist and practically dragged him out towards the town entrance. More than a few passersby noticed and gave the two knowing or mischievous looks, which Kairi flat out ignored. Riku, on the other hand, had to silently convey that the two were not an item, all the while being carted away by his surprisingly strong friend.
Once they were out the entrance and a fair distance away, Riku ripped his wrist away and stood his ground. Kairi stopped and looked back, a single brow arched questioningly.
"Okay, Kairi." He huffed as he massaged his wrist. "I know that look in your eye. You figured something out, didn't you?"
"Yup!" She beamed before holding out the ball she found on the downed ship. "Turns out we already have Pokemon."
"Huh?"
"I saw somebody in town use one of their own ball things. Turns out inside these are the Pokemon!"
Riku brought out his own ball. "Really? They fit inside these tiny things?"
Kairi nodded before she took her tiny sphere and chucked it in the air. She wondered what sort of creature lived inside. Maybe it would be something like Rockruff! It could also be something like that strongman Pokemon; while she wouldn't dare to be picky, she hoped it would be something a little more her style, if that made any sense. She watched eagerly as the ball reached the highest point of its toss…
*PFT.*
…before unceremoniously plopping down into the sand.
"..."
"..."
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Riku snarked. "You sure yours has something?"
"I thought I did it right…" Kairi mumbled disappointedly as she knelt down to retrieve the sphere. She looked up to see Riku fiddling with his own, pressing the button in the center to shrink and enlarge it over and over again. "Wait. Make it big and toss it."
Riku paused for a moment before complying. He threw the enlarged sphere into the air, whereupon it exploded in a burst of white light. A shimmering white form came into focus; it looked like a small bipedal reptile with green, rocky skin. Atop its head was a blunt spike that was perhaps a third of the length of the rest of its body. Its face was adorable, in her opinion; between the short, rounded snout and the black markings around its eyes, it held an adorably serious gaze. Its stubby little feet seemed to have one toenail each, while its arms were relatively featureless.
"Lar."
"Ooh, he's cute!" Kairi cooed before a thought occurred to her. "Wait, he? Or she?"
The Pokemon shook its head. Kairi blinked, not expecting the creature to really understand her at all.
"He?"
A nod.
"Okay! He is pretty cute!" Kairi corrected.
"Lar lar, Larvitar!" It cried out indignantly, shaking its fist in the air.
"I don't think he likes being called cute." Riku snickered.
"Lar." The little green Pokemon scoffed, crossing its arms.
"What about you, Kairi?" Riku prompted, nodding towards the miniaturized ball in her hand.
Kairi looked intently at the ball which defied her previously. She pressed the button on the center, enlarging it. She carefully lobbed it in the air. "Well, here goes!"
A burst of light later, and Kairi met one of the most adorable creatures to ever grace her eyes. Her little Pokemon was vaguely humanoid in shape, and resembled a small child in an oversized white dress. On top of its white head was an upside-down green bowl – which she supposed could be its hair, actually – and two flat, red horns on the top of its head; one horn was sitting on its forehead while one sat on the back edge of its cranium.
At this point, she was convinced that nearly every single Pokemon in existence was incredibly cute and must be protected at all costs.
"Ral!" 'Hi!'
Kairi blinked. Again.
"Riku, do you have any water on you?" Kairi asked. "The heat's starting to get to me. I thought I heard this Pokemon speak to me."
"Uhh… Kai?"
'Of course I'm speaking to you, silly!' A childlike voice giggled in her head. 'There's no one else around! Well, except the tall boy with white hair and… you're a Larvitar, right?'
"Larv."
'Yep, Larvitar. But no! I was talking to YOU!'
"I didn't know Pokemon could speak." Kairi smiled before crouching down to its level. "Anyway, I'm Kairi, and that's Riku. It's nice to meet you both!"
"And I'm Jiminy Cricket!" Came the tiny voice of the little green chronicler as he bounded out of Kairi's hood. He pulled his top hat off and gave a gracious bow from his perch on Kairi's shoulder. "It's a pleasure to meet you both!"
'Kairi?' The little telepath seemed to be testing the name. 'That's a really pretty name! Hi Kairi! Hi Riku! Hi Jiminy Cricket! I'm Ralts! That's Larvitar, but you probably already knew that.'
"Actually, we've never seen one of your kind before." Riku said. "You're actually the first Pokemon we've really interacted with."
"Well, except that cute dog back in town. I wonder if it was called Rockruff or if that was the name of its species?" Kairi pondered before turning her attention to Ralts. "Wait, is Ralts your name or your species?"
'Yes!'
"Lar."
'Oh, he says yes, too. About being called Larvitar, that is. It'd be silly if he was called Ralts.'
"Lar lar, Larvitar-tar."
'Larvitar wants to know what you mean by us two being the first Pokemon you've ever interacted with. It sounds silly to me, too, actually. How's that work?'
"We're… not from around here." Kairi sheepishly admitted. "We don't have Pokemon where we're from."
'Don't have Pokemon? What do you… oh! Oh, that's really cool! Weird, but cool! You're from another world!'
Kairi and Riku both stiffened, while Jiminy sighed in exasperation. Apparently not only was Ralts a telepath, but also she had no sense of personal boundaries when it came to the thoughts of others. Larvitar, meanwhile, simply stared at the two with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Ralts seemed to understand the breach in etiquette, however, and Kairi could feel a wave of panicked regret.
'Oh no! I wasn't supposed to say that, was I? I'm sorry! I won't say anything, I promise! Larvitar, say you won't say anything!'
"L-lar." Larvitar mumbled, still slack-jawed.
'Please don't abandon us!' Ralts cried in their heads.
"Whoa, whoa!" Riku raised his hands placatingly. "Why would we abandon you?"
'Well, I've heard of trainers who abandon their Pokemon because they misbehaved. I don't want to be abandoned! I promise I'll behave from now on!' Ralts conveyed, even as she was nervously fiddling with her hands. Larvitar looked similarly worried.
"We're not going to abandon you." Kairi reassured the tiny duo. She leaned in conspiratorially. "We're technically not even trainers. Well, I assume trainers need some kind of license. Right?"
Riku shrugged, just as ignorant as she was.
"Anyway, we're not going to abandon you." Kairi assured them. "Actually, I think we're going to need your help. We're looking for a friend of ours and we don't know anything about this world. Would you be willing to help us?"
'Your friend Sora, right?' Ralts asked, tiny white fists clenched with excitement. 'Yeah! I wanna help! What about you, Larvitar?'
Larvitar gave a curt nod. "Tar."
'Wow, you're really serious all the time, huh?'
"Larv."
'I am not naive!' Ralts tele-gasped. 'Anyway, where are we going? And how are we getting there? All I see is desert. Where are we, anyway?'
"Enok said we were in someplace called Orre?" Riku guessed, scratching his head.
"Larvitar lar-lar." Larvitar began to pantomime… something.
'Larvy says we should definitely stay together then. His mother always said Orre was a dangerous place.'
Thank Light they had Ralts here to act as a translator. Kairi couldn't imagine trying to have a decent conversation with them without her as an intermediate. She glanced around, also counting herself lucky that none of the townsfolk had wandered out to witness her and Riku speaking with Ralts. Not that them speaking to Ralts would be odd, necessarily – she couldn't assume one way or the other – but rather at the risk of their origins being brought to light by an adorable green-haired Pokemon that liked to overshare.
"We're heading to see some Professor named Krane." Riku explained. "We think Sora's traveling with someone named Ash Ketchum. Does that name mean anything to either of you?"
Both Pokemon shook their heads. Disappointing, but not unsurprising given the possibility that they spent most of their time in those weird balls.
'Sorry. We still wanna help, though!'
Kairi smiled as she and the two Pokemon followed Riku towards a clearing large enough for him to turn his Keyblade into a glider. "Thank you both so much. Now that we've sworn you two to secrecy, though, I think it's time we show you a little bit of what we're capable of. Riku?"
Riku smirked before tossing his Keyblade into the air. Within seconds, it assumed the form of his glider. Riku hopped on before Kairi followed suit. She patted an empty space next to her large enough for Ralts and Larvitar both to sit comfortably.
Ralts and Larvitar gawked at the display, dumbfounded by what they just witnessed.
"Larrrr…"
'You said it. Best humans ever!'
A/N:
Is it a bit soon for Riku and Kairi to get Pokemon?
Maybe, but they're gonna struggle and stumble their way through this new world. It'll help for them to have a pint-sized duo that can at least help them with the basics.
And now they're hot on Sora's trail! Well, maybe not close, but they have a lead! In typical Kingdom Hearts fashion, it'll probably be some time before we have our reunion. It's a time-honored tradition, after all. I distinctly remember, as a young child, getting incredibly frustrated in Traverse Town because Sora just couldn't seem to be in the right place at the right time to find and meet Donald and Goofy.
So expect more of that!
Anyhow, any reviews are deeply appreciated! See you next time!