#the fact its been A Year since sora disappeared in game and only then did ANYONE think hey isnt riku soras dreameater????

[cinnabeat]

god fucking imagine waiting years for kh3 and then it ends with sora apparently disappearing and then like a year later u got remind and then it Ends Like That i wouldnt be able to handle it

[shihalyfie]

Shihanne’s Kizuna FAQ

Since Kizuna is finally becoming gradually more accessible to English-speakers online, I’ve decided to put together a quick FAQ for those who are not sure about watching the movie or are (understandably) apprehensive about anything about it, especially due to recent events in the franchise and occasional fanbase misinformation. This is not meant to convince anyone towards or against watching the movie as much as it’s just meant to clarify some questions for anyone who might be unsure about watching it, such as how relevant it is to tri. or how canon-compliant it is, etc.

This is meant to be as spoiler-free as possible, although due to the nature of the movie’s contents, I will ultimately have to make minor hints or references to minor plot details. I’ve done my best to keep it to a minimum, but the references to what happens in the story increase progressively as we go further into the post, so feel free to stop reading as soon as you like.

Is Kizuna a sequel to tri.? Are they related?

They are not related. Other than Kizuna being set five years after 2005, there is no relation, not on a story or creative level at all -- the themes, writing style, everything is different. Even the staff is different -- of the tri. staff, the only ones carried over are the voice cast, Producer Kinoshita Yousuke (who was only on Parts 5 and 6, at that, and had no involvement in tri.’s story at all), and some music staff members (AiM, Miyazaki Ayumi) that were also on the original series. Everyone else is either from the original series (original series producer Seki Hiromi, writer Yamatoya Akatsuki) or new staff that self-identifies as Digimon fans.

Notably, Producer Seki was pretty unsubtle about finding certain things about tri. to be unsatisfying, to the point that she openly admitted that certain things in Kizuna were made in direct response to it, so that probably lends a lot to why the creative process behind Kizuna was so diametrically opposite.

What do you need to have seen so far to understand the movie? Do you need to have seen tri.?

You do not have to have seen tri.; it’s effectively irrelevant to Kizuna whatsoever in both theme and story.

I generally recommend having seen Adventure, 02, and their four movies (Digimon Adventure, Our War Game!, Hurricane Touchdown, and Diablomon Strikes Back). Even then, if you’re missing some stuff, the story doesn’t rely on their events so much that it’ll confuse you if you haven’t seen it, and in fact it’s mostly its own story; it’s just that the emotional resonance hits best when you’ve seen what’s happened in the prior works, and its core themes have a lot to do with what was established in Adventure, 02, and its worldbuilding.

Surprisingly, despite being Adventure-centric, I’d say it actually has deeper relevance to the events and themes of 02 than it does Adventure, although that’s just my personal impression. (That’s still “deeper“, in the comparative sense; it most certainly has strong ties to both, and part of it being more 02-relevant is also simply due to the logical nature of it being set in this point in timeline, where 02 is a closer temporal reference point and also has an epilogue that this movie is building up to.)

Are the characterizations consistent with Adventure and 02?

Yes! Very much so! There are a few differences, but they’re all things you can chalk up to how someone would naturally get older and more mature, and even if you personally don’t care for certain developments, they’re still logical extensions of what they might be like as per their character arcs. For the record, making sure the characters felt like themselves seems to have been a pretty big priority for the staff:

Before the preliminary meeting for the script, [Producer Seki] told us, “I haven’t finished reading it, so I’ll be there later,” and then she arrived sometime after the meeting had already started, and said things like, “no, Taichi feels wrong here. He wouldn’t say something like this.”

Producer Seki was personally involved in the creation of all twelve kids and their partners, so it’s safe to say she is probably one of the people you can reliably trust most to understand them. (During the production of the original series, she was also well-known for being the one who pushed for portrayal of their personal home lives and family backgrounds.)

The 02 quartet (Daisuke, Ken, Miyako, and Iori) is portrayed in line with their Japanese version characterizations, so if you watched 02 with the American English dub (which at times took some pretty massive liberties with some of them), there may be some differences.

How much of the cast gets to play a major role in it?

I’ll be frank about the fact that this is mainly a Taichi and Yamato movie (to be fair, it’s not like they hid this fact in advertising). That said, a surprising amount of attention is given to the 02 quartet, and there’s a bit of attention on Koushirou, but the protagonists are most certainly Taichi and Yamato. Mind you, this is in terms of story, not, say, making everyone randomly weak in battle for no good reason; Taichi and Yamato are the “protagonists” of this movie (similar to Our War Game!).

Sora also gets a bit of focus in the short side story “To Sora”, and there’s also a planned upcoming one with Jou (public release details are still unclear, but most certainly expected by the Memorial Story project in December). The accompanying drama CD that came with the deluxe version of the Blu-ray is also centered around the 02 main cast.

What’s with the whole thing about a novel?

There were two official novelizations of the movie, the Dash X Bunko version and the Shueisha Mirai Bunko version. I recommend them as reading for anyone who’s watched the movie; the Dash X has some extra scenes that weren’t in the movie and clarifies a few things, while the Shueisha Mirai clarifies some of the core themes and background points that were a little more obscure in the movie itself.

However, since the movie is first and foremost a visual medium, I do not think that either serve as effective replacements for the movie itself, nor, conversely, that the movie itself is particularly incomplete without them, but rather that, since there are a lot of intricate nuances behind the themes of the movie, they may benefit from some extra clarification. The novels by themselves omit a lot of visual details that enhance the presentation of the movie and make its intended themes much clearer, and since this is a movie that relies more on emotional resonance and feelings moreso than it does events on paper, I don’t think the novels alone constitute an accurate reflection of it.

What was that whole thing about the movie not being compliant with Kakudou lore? Is the 02 epilogue still canon?

The issue most likely has to do with the movie’s premise about partners disappearing when you become an adult. Director Kakudou (original director of Adventure and 02) clarified himself that the “lore inconsistency” had to do with underlying lore that wasn’t depicted directly in the TV series, so it’s not something major like the epilogue (which definitely was depicted on-screen).

His relevant posting is to do with the theory of Digimon being manifested as part of the soul, so my personal guess is that he wasn’t quite on board with the slightly different take the movie had on such a detailed and absolute matter. (He did, however, gracefully invite people to enjoy the movie regardless, so take that as you will.)

Another thing that he mentioned in his detailed posting is that he felt that it would be impossible to reconcile the lore for the TV series and the occasionally contradictory lore from movies 2-4 (Our War Game! through DSB), to the point the original plan for the third Adventure series was shelved partially due to that. Without saying too much, Kizuna does (latently, but nevertheless) involve references to the movies in question, so that probably also contributed to the issue.

For the most part, though, the movie itself doesn’t actually violate that much of the underlying lore for Adventure and 02; it’s compliant with even the background details of his concept (the Chosen Children number tallying over 30,000 by the time of 2010 is consistent with the doubling-every-year principle), and, without spoiling too much, there’s multiple indications in the movie of that whole thing about “partners disappearing when you become an adult” actually being more of a deceptive premise than press made it seem.

As for the epilogue...official press and staff have practically whacked you over the head with a statement that the 02 epilogue still holds and that this movie leads up to it. (Need proof? Here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and about half a million other places in press and press releases; warning that these links are spoilery.) The last one has a pretty clear statement, too:

This is not a movie meant to change the world’s timeline, but rather made to be a connecting story that happened within those 25 years, and we consider it to be a story that expands the world of Digimon.

Producer Seki herself was infamously the one who put her foot down when people asked her about epilogue-related questions in V-Jump, so we’re talking about staff with a history of having no intention of going against the epilogue. This is also consistent with the fact the movie itself constantly drops epilogue and latter-half 02 references (the increasing number of Chosen Children, the kids’ career paths being clear lead-ups to the events of the epilogue).

For all it’s worth, it’s important to remember that the concept of the epilogue ever potentially being retconned has always been purely fanbase invention (and especially Western fanbase, at that). At no point has official staff ever made an indication that they had any intent to go against it (even the tri. staff, of all people, made a huge point of claiming they would still be going with it). Kizuna is not a movie that really holds your hand nor caters to what the fanbase wants, so the best way to enjoy and understand it is going in with the understanding that the epilogue applies by default, rather than considering it to have been written with any possibility of it not applying.

In addition, the actual core theme of the movie itself is very dependent on the assumption that the epilogue holds in mind (which really should be the case, considering that the epilogue was literally right there on screen, no matter how controversial it may have been), and having that assumption allows for a much better understanding of said themes.

Are Takeru and Hikari still involved with the 02 kids?

The events of the movie engineer a situation where the other four end up working as a quartet, but not in a sense where they’ve split or become distant from Takeru and Hikari (rather the contrary, in fact). The circumstances alone go a lot towards explaining why they’re working separately at the time (much like Diablomon Strikes Back), and the drama CD included with the special edition of the Blu-ray confirms that the situation in the movie is purely due to its individual circumstances, and in all other scenarios, they’re still regularly in contact and very close with each other. It’s not played in a way that feels contrary to their known relationship, and, without going into too much detail, there are certain depictions within the movie that reflect them as being part of a “younger group set” with the other four.

Beyond that, a large amount of promotional material classifies Takeru and Hikari as being with the 02 group instead of the Adventure one (for instance, this piece of Ani On Station art).

Is there romance or clear romance baiting in the movie?

No. The movie also happens to be extremely fast-paced (it tries to get a lot of major content out of the way in only 95 minutes, and does not let up even once), so it’s executed in a way in which it’s completely understandable that the topic or depiction would not even be brought up front-and-center, and it comes off as pretty natural in that respect. Quite simply, it feels that even if any of the characters are romantically involved or dating, they’re more than capable of putting the issue aside for the 95 minutes of bigger priorities this movie spans.

For those who are interested in this topic in terms of epilogue compliance (i.e. the two canon confirmed married couples Yamato/Sora and Ken/Miyako), the depictions of the respective characters’ relationships are done in a tasteful way such that, even in the lack of clear depictions of romance, there is minor evidence that the epilogue outcome was on the staff’s minds when writing them, and there’s no awkwardness about it. Or, in other words, where they are now seems completely feasible and natural based on what we know about where they were as of 02 and where we know they’ll end up; there isn’t anything in-your-face about it, but some things might stick out to the particularly perceptive person looking out for it.

Is tri. canon to Kizuna?

Hoo boy, that sure is a question. The answer is...yes and no.

There is a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery brief, borderline blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clear reference to tri.’s central character Mochizuki Meiko and her partner, Meicoomon. (It has no real relevance to the story whatsoever.) There are things you may consider references, like Yamato being into motorbikes or Koushirou being in company business, but that’s if you really squint. Otherwise, there are no other conclusive references to any of the events from the tri. anime series. In addition, Kizuna very much prioritizes compliance with Adventure and 02, and, when faced with a plot, lore, or characterization point where it has to decide between Adventure/02 compliance or tri. compliance, it absolutely prioritizes the former, even if that means posing a direct contradiction to tri. (a good example being its portrayal of Digimon and Digimon partnerships as something that’s been a naturally increasing part of life since 1995, in stark contrast to tri. having Digimon be seen as unidentified mysterious entities all the way in 2005).

I wouldn’t say Kizuna retcons tri., but it seems to handle it in a way similar to what I call “M03 status” (M03 being previously Adventure/02′s most infamously difficult-to-rationalize entity in canon, especially when it has its own sequel in the form of The Door to Summer) -- it doesn’t go out of its way to reject anything as much as it encourages you to not think too hard about it, and prioritizes compliance with the original series when push comes to shove. Since there’s nothing really contradictory about the idea that “a girl named Mochizuki Meiko with a partner Meicoomon exists” (just like how there’s nothing contradictory about the idea that “a boy named Wallace exists and Daisuke and his friends met him in the US once”), I would say that if you do want to think about it too hard, it’s possible for some of the events of tri. to have happened, but not in the exact way they were presented in the actual real-life anime series.

Although it may seem like a cop-out to some, personally, I feel that the contradictions (especially the lore and timeline-related ones) between Adventure/02 and tri. are so huge in number and significant that it would be impossible for a 95-minute movie to maintain its integrity as a creative work while trying to resolve that laundry list of issues, and overall the movie does give off the impression of being “fun and emotional” more than anything, so it does feel like about the most practical decision they could have feasibly made.

Is it a perfect movie?

No!

Like with any work, there are things you might criticize, or that your personal taste might not match up well with. I mentioned earlier that the movie itself actually is closer in thematic line with 02 than it is Adventure, so people hoping for Adventure reference overdose or Digital World specific lore might be a bit disappointed in this respect (it focuses a bit more on the human growth and drama angle than the Digimon lore and coolness angle, although that’s not to say it completely neglects it whatsoever). There are some writing nitpicks I would say were endemic to the original series as well (some very vital thematic elements are a bit too subtle for their own good, to the point the novels and staff interviews feel a bit more necessary than they should be), and if your favorite character didn’t get a lot of spotlight in this movie, that might be a bit disappointing.

But don’t get me wrong: I don’t say any of this to harp on the movie, but mainly because I think it’s unfair to have unrealistic expectations of it. This is a single movie that’s meant to be fun and enjoyable more than anything else, and to make you think about the themes it has to say. I would not think of it as a full series nor something meant to fulfill the role of a full series, but rather a single movie -- much like Our War Game!, which is a fun and enjoyable movie but by no means a comprehensive series-scale entity -- that’s meant to entertain you and give you lots of emotions and make you think about things in the span of 95 minutes.

If anything, it is a movie definitely made with a lot of heart and passion by its staff, who clearly put a lot of love and effort and respect for the original Adventure/02 (yes, both) into it and wanted to say something emotionally moving. For all intents and purposes, both Adventure and 02 were the same way -- not necessarily free of writing problems, but full of a ton of love, passion, and soul -- and so I think it is a movie very true to the original series in this way.

[casualtheoriesandthoughts]

The Other Side of Reality (SPOILERS FOR KH MoM)

In this post, I’m going to talk about a theory of mine that may not impact our understandings of the KH universe that much but one that I think is important to discuss. I’m not necessarily making hard claims about what is or isn’t happening (such as Kairi being a Chirithy or Xehanort being Riku’s dad), but trying to clarify the stuff happening in between. Warning again: Spoilers for KH MoM ahead!

As I said in a previous post, memories in Kingdom Hearts are almost like the existential glue of reality. They are what ties beings to reality and to their full selves. Nobodies require their memories (at least some of them) to be able to pursue re-completion. Memories can rescue someone from the brink of falling into the darkness (Sora, Aqua, Ventus and Terra). In the absence of memories, one could legitimately fade from existence (Xion being the notable example, and also Sora while he’s in Castle Oblivion).

This all ties into a theory I have about Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory’s  basic premise and its connection to Sora’s fate. People have been speculating about what the actual nature of Sora’s disappearance is, especially since Chirithy provided critical details as to the costs Sora incurred at the end of KH3 and Re:Mind. Then we get Apprentice Xehanort (aka Terra-Xehanort) telling us about a “world that’s neither of light and darkness”. Ansem the Wise interprets this to mean a realm that is on the reverse of reality: unreality, or fiction. 

Some believe that this is a meta-comment on Sora’s transportation to a possible proxy for the real world. However, Yozora and the Verum Rex-FF Versus XIII connection make this less likely to me. I found some interesting speculation on YouTube about the latter, namely that Quadratum could be the world of FF Versus XIII repurposed (since it became FFXV, Versus XIII never came to be, hence unreality). Then we have the original epilogue of KH3, where the Lost Masters (minus Ava) return. Where they come from is not known, but as Yen Sid remarks at the end of Melody of Memory, the ancient masters (presumably people in Union Cross, if not only the Masters) had the ability to travel to other realms beyond the universe of Kingdom Hearts.

But what does this add up to for Sora? I believe that Sora has not been erased (as Xion was) and that it is indeed possible for him to return. My theory consists of three connected premises:

Sora still “exists” within the ambit of Kingdom Hearts (the embodiment of all hearts, not the universe; I’m going to use KH as the abbreviation for the latter)

Kairi and Riku both use the power of waking the wrong way

Quadratum exists on flipside of Kingdom Hearts

I’m going to call this the Other Side of Reality theory for convenience (OSR). Without further ado, let’s get into it!

1. Sora exists accessibly

Before anything else, we need to establish conclusively that Sora actually exists in an accessible way (please note my previous post about access to hearts and memories). 

In my previous post on memories, I attempted to show that memories are proof of someone’s existence. Xion is the best example, as she literally disappears from people’s consciousnesses despite the mark she left on many characters like Roxas, Riku and Axel. Sora also similarly vanishes as he progresses through Castle Oblivion, though this is more due to Naminé’s magic than the castle itself. In the strictest sense, Naminé is not eliminating but tangling and obscuring Sora’s memories (and she can only do this to Sora). Therefore, we can say that if someone remembers an individual, that person has and does exist materially and metaphysically.

Sora is clearly not forgotten given that his friends are searching desperately for him. This, all despite Chirithy and Young Xehanort’s warnings about how misusing the power of waking would cost him greatly. In the end, Sora is shown to disappear from the world, but as I theorize, not from existence. Hearts are also the fundamental necessity to exist, which themselves require memories to take form. Sora’s accessibility is demonstrated by the fact that Riku is able to travel to Quadratum through the Nameless Star’s heart-portal.

The notion of accessibility is important, because Kingdom Hearts is the bedrock of reality. Sora cannot be found or even known to exist if Kingdom Hearts does not encompass him in itself. Worlds and beings all arise from Kingdom Hearts, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to make this claim. Anything in Kingdom Hearts’ sphere of influence (or rather all things that it creates) are accessible by beings within it, which includes those beings themselves. I believe that this is the premise of the power of waking, as one might say that the user “awakens” to the nature of reality through its use. 

This brings me to my next point:

2. Kairi is using the power of waking in MoM, and Riku is too; but both are using it the wrong way

MoM takes place as Kairi traverses her memories of all the events of the Xehanort Saga. It is important to note that this is from her perspective, not a simple recap of everything that has happened in the Kingdom Hearts games to date. We’re explicitly told that this takes place over the year when the Guardians of Light are searching for Sora. 

However, there are potentially some discrepancies here. Many of the events displayed in the cutscenes are not things that Kairi could have personally witnessed (even as a disembodied heart inside Sora). However, if we consider that Kairi’s Nobody, Naminé, is able to manipulate memories connected to Sora’s (a power no other character is known to have), this may make more sense. Because Naminé is her Nobody, I believe that the power of memories is tied to Kairi somehow (since Sora can’t do it), which isn’t outlandish considering she has a unique Nobody despite being a Princess of Heart. Kairi is then traveling the links of memories connected to her, even if they are not her own. Now, what does this sound a lot like? The power of waking. 

The power of waking (PoW) is described by Yen Sid in KH3D as freeing a heart from sleep. However Young Xehanort goes further, describing it as the power to traverse hearts to find worlds, contrasted with traversing worlds to find hearts. Multiple characters, but particularly Young Xehanort, point out that the latter is a “misuse” of the PoW, which Sora does when he rescues his friends in KH3. This is because it is essentially the inverse of the normal PoW, as he rapidly traverses worlds in search of his friends’ hearts and apparently across time. It is stated by Chirithy that the inverted PoW transgresses the laws of nature by altering history.  

Memory Master Xehanort (the apparition in the Final World Kairi encounters in MoM; MMX) says that Kairi’s journey took place across her own memories and her own heart. However, that doesn’t explain why she witnesses events that didn't happen in connection to her (ex. BBS and 358/2 Days). Sora also travels back in time and witnesses events from his friends’ hearts, which makes many important events in the final chapter of KH3 happen. Chirithy even states that this much closer to the true PoW, but still isn’t because he causes an event to happen that wouldn’t have happened otherwise (Kairi remaining whole). If we accept that Kairi traveled across memories and events that didn’t happen to her, like Sora did, it makes sense to suggest that she is also using the PoW improperly (albeit much more safely since she doesn’t alter any events). 

This reveals important information about where Sora is metaphysically because Kairi embarked on her journey under the assumption that Sora’s heart could be found in her memories (and those of others). Chirithy mentions that Sora can only return from the other side of reality through the PoW which would ordinarily suggest that Quadratum is in the Realm of Sleep. However, let us remember that Kairi is using the PoW the wrong way, and was attempting to find Sora but failed to do so. MMX’s statement about where Sora is suggests that the version of the PoW Kairi was using was the right one but not in the right place. 

This brings us to Riku, who travels to Quadratum to find Sora. Quadratum cannot be in the Realm of Sleep because it is implied by Ansem the Wise to be on the other side of reality, at the exclusion of the worlds of data, dreams and memories (as well as of darkness, nothingness and light). Therefore, Riku isn’t using the ordinary PoW to reach Quadratum. He seems to successfully arrive in Quadratum after using the PoW through the Nameless Star. Even though he’s using the heart-portal of the Nameless Star, he is also traveling across the boundary of reality and unreality to find Sora’s heart. He is deliberately using the PoW the inverted way to find Sora. 

The million-dollar question is: where is that? My claim is essentially that Sora must return through his novel, “inverted” use of the PoW, which is why Kairi and Riku were using it the way they did. 

3. Quadratum and the flipside of Kingdom Hearts

This may come across as the most bizarre part of my theory, but bear with me! I believe that Quadratum is located on another side of Kingdom Hearts, not unlike the allusions to Roxas being the other side of Sora’s heart in Re:CoM. 

Despite the numerous attempts to summon and control Kingdom Hearts’ power, we never actually witness what it is. Not even in KH1, where Ansem SoD vainly calls to Kingdom Hearts to fill him with the power of darkness. That door in the abyss of the End of the World is the Door to Darkness, a gateway to the Realm of Darkness. It seems that Kingdom Hearts shined its light from within, perhaps as the manifestation of the hearts lost in the depths.

But we are left without any clues as to what Kingdom Hearts might be, other than the collection of all hearts that exist. It manifests as a heart-shaped moon, though likely as a representation of the greater reality. It seems most accurate to say that Kingdom Hearts is the “heart” of existence, through which any of the realms may accessed. This is the reason it can be witnessed in the Realm of Light and Nothingness, and why Xehanort believes it can grant the ability to literally unmake and remake the universe. 

Quadratum is anchored to Kingdom Hearts in a realm of its own, precisely because it can be accessed through the inverted PoW. That anchoring is clearly demonstrated by the fact that Sora still exists throughout the various realms as the chain of memories that bind him to his loved ones is intact (and that he can project his “voice” across the boundary to fight MMX for Kairi). Just as the Realm of Darkness, Nothingness, Memories, Data and Sleep all require special means to be entered (and conversely, this is true of re-entering the Realm of Light, as seen in KH2′s ending), Quadratum’s own realm can only be accessed by the inverted PoW.

Clearly this realm is special, not being accessed ordinarily by the PoW and Sora needing to disappear to go there. However, it’s not as if no one knew about it. Xehanort apparently was aware that it might exist, and Yen Sid’s comments about the ancient masters suggest that the Lost Masters could freely travel to it by special means. It even seems that the Lost Masters were sent into hiding  as Luxu mentions in KH3 Secret Reports 12 and 13. In Secret Report 12, Luxu writes that the “The Lost Masters will awaken” (emphasis added). 

This suggests the Lost Masters are dormant or otherwise sequestered, perhaps not totally free to traverse from their present positions to the Realm of Light or other realms for that matter. This is suggested by the fact that Luxu summons the Lost Masters, which indicates he has the power to beckon to beings across realms, like the Master of Masters (who appears in the alt-Shibuya in which Riku and Sora find themselves). 

The Lost Masters’ unreachability by most characters in the main realms further points to a connection between Sora and the Lost Masters’ conditions. That said, I’m not necessarily suggesting that the Lost Masters’ used the inverted PoW themselves, though this is possible seeing as Ava “didn’t make it”. The Lost Page of the Book of Prophecies may have something to do with it, as Luxu states that he disclosed his own role to Ava, which prompted her to take action of her own. This could mean Ava is on the move elsewhere, or has perished in the conclusion of her own role. On a related note, the reappearance of the Lost Masters in the ending of KH3 is the second reason that Quadratum must be in a unique realm, as time flows differently between realms and none of the foretellers aged (from what we can tell). Similarly, Aqua didn’t age at all despite spending ten years in the Realm of Darkness.  

If all the known realms are existentially anchored to Kingdom Hearts, the nature of Quadratum becomes more plausible. 

Concluding thoughts

Only time will tell whether or not Quadratum is going to be the start of a more Square-Enix-leaning KH multiverse with more Final Fantasy characters. Although Nomura might have gone and dashed this idea by saying NEO TWEWY and KH3′s ending aren’t connected at all. 

Personally, I have a head-canon where FF characters in KH are in fact from across the boundary and that their appearances and forms are changed in the process of coming to the KH universe. 

This is a working theory, and there’s stuff I still need to learn/incorporate from KHUx Dark Road, so that’s all for now! Hope this theory interests some people!

[x0401x]

Asahi Shinbun Interview with Akane Kazuki

“Original animes are now showing their true value.” - On the feelings that director Akane Kazuki has put into his latest work, “Hoshiai no Sora”.

One challenging TV animation began airing in October 2019. The title of the series is “Hoshiai no Sora”.

In the past, many TV animes were original works, but as of late, animes often have a source material. It can be said that the ratio of “anime adaptations” of source materials is between over 60% and over 80%. “Hoshiai no Sora” is an original anime, which is rare nowadays.

Akane Kazuki-san, the director, original creator and screenwriter, had made three original animes until now. Yet all of them were sci-fi and fantasy, their stories unfolding through “unrealistic” themes. However, unlike Director Akane’s works up to this point, “Hoshiai no Sora” is a “realistic” story that has the youth of middle school boys as its theme.

Why did he decide to make one more original anime, with a theme that he had never written about before? The motive was hidden in the roots of Director Akane’s entry in the anime industry.

Raw || Index

Coming in contact with the possibility of an original anime through “Gundam”

One of the reasons why Director Akane decides to aim for the anime industry was that he “felt the potential of anime”. At the time, many directors, such as Miyazaki Hayao and Tomino Yoshiyuki, were creating original works that did not have a source material and enlivening the anime industry. Director Akane was greatly influenced by them.

“When I was a child, after watching Steven Spielberg’s ‘Encounter with the Unknown’ and George Lucas’s ‘Star Wars’, I began looking up to international live action movies. There were many works amongst the live action movies from overseas that were exciting, fun and insane to watch, and I could feel an essence of entertainment from them. On the other hand, several of the Japanese live action movies were focused on realistic artistry and not very entertaining.”

“Then, I watched the works of Miyazaki-san and Tomino-san and they had me going, ‘This is entertainment! Japan can also make entertainment-type works!’. At the same time, I felt that we could be entering an anime era from that point onward.”

After graduating from university, Director Akane joined Sunrise. Under Director Tomino Yoshiyuki, father of the “Kidou Senshi Gundam” series and one of the people who motivated Director Akane to aim for the anime industry, he was in charge of the production progress of original robot anime works.

Starting with the Gundam series, Director Tomino created countless original animes. Director Akane was charmed by the way that Director Tomino made his series.

“In Tomino-san’s settings, I already required to insert my own ideas. With Tomino-san’s plots as base, the writers would make the scenarios, and the responsibility for their content fell upon the storyboard writers, but if we made storyboards that were exactly like the screenplay, Tomino-san would get angry. ‘Put more ideas into it,’ he would say. ‘I’m already giving so many ideas, so why won’t you guys give some too?!’ (laughs). For original animes, in order to make the series interesting, we had the duty of sprinkling and hammering our ideas into it while having constant questions about it. Witnessing this at twenty years of age, I came in contact with the enjoyment of making original animes.”

From this experience, Director Akane started to think that making original animes was something natural for animation directors.

The decline of original animes | The sense of two impeding crises that he had been observing

Having left Sunrise and turned into a freelancer, Director Akane birthed original animes one after another. He worked as the director, original creator and series composer of “Geneshaft” (2001), “Heat Guy J” (2002) and “Noein: Mou Hitori no Kiki e” (2005). However, along with the passage of time, the difficulties of creating an original anime increased. This was because the fact that the public became able to purchase anime films (VHS and DVD) gave rise to a climate of concern for the film sales in the industry as a whole.

“Original animes take a great deal of workload and costs for the production and advertisement. Still, you have to release them in order to know if they will be a success. On one hand, animes that have a popular source material such as mangas, light novels and games have their stories and characters ready, and you know they will sell to a certain extent even if there is not much propaganda for them.”

And so, the number of projects for original animes saw a steady decrease. Currently, most of the animes being broadcasted are series that have source materials. In these circumstances, Director Akane claims that he can sense two impeding crisis.

“The first is: I feel that the viewers have begun to grow tired of anime. When they have a source material, people can get excited over the developments even without watching it in earnest. I wonder if they are becoming unable to watch anime seriously. If I had to say it, anime is turning into a sashimi accompaniment nowadays. Social medias are the sashimi and anime is the grated radish. People watch anime in order to talk about it in social medias. Anime is becoming a tool for communication. For us, the creators, this is destructive.

The second is the decline of the anime industry. That is because the people who have the know-how for making original animes are disappearing. Many of today’s young animators enter this industry after watching animes that have source materials. The number of people who aimed for this industry out of wanting to create original animes has truly decreased. It is exactly because things are this way now that we need original animes.”

Breaking the patterns of traditional animation and opening up a new path

“Hoshiai no Sora” is the original anime that Director Akane took roughly fourteen years to make after “Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e”. With the sense of impeding crisis as his trigger, the thought that “we must advance with new ramifications and possibilities of animation” sprouted within Director Akane himself.

“When I thought about what young people use their money for these days, I concluded that they use it for ‘experiences’. That they might be paying to experience things they would not be able taste anywhere else, such as live concerts and events. When I pondered what could be the equivalent to a live concert in terms of anime, I figured that original animes feel like lives. Original animes, I thought, can create experiences that you can only have a taste of through them, since nobody has seen them before, so there is excitement when they are watched for the first time upon being broadcasted, and all sorts of emotions stir up because you cannot predict the future developments.”

In order to have the viewers feel that “experience”, what he was particularly conscious of was the “story”. Until now, he had been the creator, director and series composer of his original animes, but this time, he was the creator, director and screenwriter. Moreover, the setting this time was not a fanciful world of sci-fi or fantasy, but instead is a “realistic” story that depicts the youth of students. As “unrealistic” stories about the isekai theme have been increasing in number in the past years, Director Akane has put into it his intentions of being able to further amplify the feeling of a live concert through a realistic story.

“In ‘Hoshiai no Sora’, the story is portrayed through breaking the barriers of conventional anime. Several of the animes being aired nowadays have the role of ‘a place to escape to’. Many series depict impossible things in hilarious and crazy ways, forgetting about common life. That is by no means bad, but I believe anime should also have other functions. I aimed for a story that would not be simply funny, comfortable to watch or emotional, but that would throw themes at the viewers and make them ponder on ‘What do you think of this phenomenon?’ with me. I want to reflect the conflicts and troubles shouldered by the people who are living in the present, as well as the current era, through anime. Additionally, I want to show a new path not just for the audience but also for the people currently involved with anime production, that ‘this way of making anime also exists’.”

“Hoshiai no Sora” portrays children of the current times

And so, on October 2019, “Hoshiai no Sora” aired at last. Starting with its project, this work took a period of about three years to be made. In regards to its production, Director Akane states that he interviewed young people who are from the same generation and environment as the featured characters.

“This time, when I received the story, I reminisced to my childhood first-thing. The child characters who appear in anime look like they are having fun and are portrayed as though they symbolize nostalgia, but is it really like that in real life? When I looked back into my childhood, there was a lot of constraint, irritation towards myself and others, those kinds of things. So above all, I wanted to depict this properly. But this time, even though I could write as much as I felt like about my own childhood frustrations, I wanted to write about the frustrations of present-time children. The environment that children are put in nowadays is becoming much more complicated than in the era I was raised. I wanted to write about the children who live in it through anime.”

“That is why I did interviews first of all. In those interviews, I found that, along with the evolution of the times, children felt things that adults are incapable of feeling. Nevertheless, when adults do not understand this, I noticed that they often disavow young kids without listening to them. I thought that, if I also portrayed this part of it, the younglings might watch the anime seriously as if it were them.”

What livens up this crafted story is the “art style”, which gives off a soft impression. It is said that the adoption of anime-like cutesy illustrations in contrast with the realistic story was the producer’s suggestion. Since people cannot tell what kind of story an original anime with no source material will be until they watch it, he made use of the idea that they would be drawn into the anime by its art and gradually get pulled into the story. Introducing people to a realistic story through an unrealistic element - one could take this as a form of expression that can be achieved exactly because it is an anime.

In 2005’s “Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e”, “new” techniques were adopted, such as the CGI outlines and the fact that the animation style changed on every episode, which was rare for the animes of the time. Just like that, Director Akane always shows us viewers a new “something”. This deepened the expectations that “Hoshiai no Sora” would also surely show us something novel.

“When watching the series, one might at first have the impression that it is about the activities of a middle school boys’ soft tennis club, a sports thing. However, it is a drama that depicts not just this, but also the frustrations and troubles that middle schoolers shoulder these days, including the adults who cause them. It reflects the nature of the current times and presents questions, as we have tried all kinds of devices to make people think, regardless of whether they are young children or adults. It is different from the patterns of anime that people have being seeing until now, so there might be viewers who were at loss. I think they could not have imagined how the story would turn out (laughs). With this included, I want everyone to have fun watching it.”

[sourcherrybomb]

SoKai Week 2020 - Day 2 - For ____ Eyes Only

Synopsis: During the time period Kairi was within Sora’s heart, she kept a handy mental diary of all the places and people she encountered. Let’s take a peek at it, shall we?

Sneak Peek: I’ve been in Sora’s heart for a little bit as of now. It’s a nice kind of… warm, if that makes sense. Like a perfect sunny day on the Islands. Knowing what kind of person Sora is, it’s unsurprising.

Tags: Light Romance, Adventure, Comedy, All Ages, F/M

Prompt for the Day: First Meeting / Unseen Adventures

Words: 3.5k

Fanart By: @softpinkbee​

Entry 1: Welcome to Sora’s Heart. Population: 1 (I think)

Sooo… This is a thing that’s happening. All because of a stupid, literal world ending storm.

Oh wait, aren’t I supposed to start with “Dear Diary”? Not like I’m physically writing in a journal since I don’t have a body anymore… Ugh, Sora and Riku would probably poke fun at me if they found out that I kept one. Well sorry that I like to be sentimental and have a way of remembering and planning our future adventures, lazy bums.

I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? I’ll do this once to get it over with.

Hello there (mental) diary, my name is Kairi! I’m 14 years old and I lived on the Destiny Islands before I somehow ended up in Sora’s (my BFF and lazy bum #1) heart. That little mishap took place right after I met this weird old guy in brown robes in our Secret Place. I don’t know where Riku (my other BFF and lazy bum #2) ended up, but somehow Sora got sucked into a black hole that sent him… Or is it us? To another world called Traverse Town.

I mean the boys and I always planned to travel to other worlds, just not like this. We were supposed to travel by raft, I was supposed to have a body, and it was going to be all three of us… Okay maybe I asked Sora if he wanted to go alone with me, only to end up chickening out at the last moment, but this current situation is not what I had in mind!

Apparently these monsters called the Heartless destroyed our world, sending us to Traverse Town. I feel bad. 

Sora was lost and alone. I knew because I felt it in his heart.

Luckily, Sora has met a lot of new people since arriving. There were these two girls, Aerith and Yuffie, that I would have loved to talk and meet with. Selphie definitely would have loved to meet Aerith, she was so pretty! Besides them, Sora also met this edgy guy named Leon (who kicked his butt) and a cranky old mechanic named Cid. More importantly, Sora met this talking duck and dog named Donald and Goofy. They’re pretty entertaining, so I hope they can keep Sora company since I can’t speak to him and we lost Riku.

I’ve been in Sora’s heart for a little bit as of now. It’s a nice kind of… warm, if that makes sense. Like a perfect sunny day on the Islands. Knowing what kind of person Sora is, it's unsurprising.

I just can’t shake off the feeling that there’s something… no, someone else in here.

Entry 2: Topsy? Turvy? Definitely Crazy.

Is it possible to have an out-of-body experience and a fever dream at the same time? Because that’s what Wonderland feels like.

Geez, where do I even start with this one? I guess with the talking rabbit entering the talking doorknob? Granted that rabbit was kind of cute, if not panicky. I could get used to that. Sora shrinking and entering a place full of playing card soldiers and a cat with a decapitated head (I think? He reattached it) are things that are going to take a bit to get used to.

Gosh, that feels like the understatement of the century.

I knew other worlds would be different than the islands. It’s just that going from a quiet city to a place where gravity is bonkers and playing cards can kill a person makes a girl really question what’s out there.

I wish I could take pictures so people would believe my words. Luckily this cricket named Jiminy has a journal where he keeps track of Sora’s journey. He stays safe inside Sora’s hood, so it’s sort of like we’re neighbors and journal buddies! I’d love to give him my point of view on things once I get my body back.

Oh one other thing before I forget, there was this one girl named Alice. I don’t know why, but she was giving off this really familiar aura. I couldn’t help but feel oddly drawn to her.

I feel like this won’t be the first time we come into contact with her.

Entry 3: Anyone else hear horns?

Like seriously, Sora and I both hear horns coming from this world, but neither of us have any idea as to where they’re coming from. This (extremely small) world is the Olympus Coliseum.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy got thrown into some challenges and ended up fighting waves of Heartless. Really makes me think about how I should have tried sword fighting with Sora and Riku. Sure, I’ve picked up some things by just watching them, but I think actually practicing with them would have helped me in the long run. I mean, I totally could have fought off that weird guy in the brown robes.

Ugh, just thinking about him gives me bad vibes. 

Going back to the challenges, Sora totally got his butt handed to him by this guy, Cloud. It was way worse than the loss Sora took against Leon, I don’t think Cloud was holding back. 

I’m thankful he didn’t finish Sora off. Partly because he’s my best friend, but also because if Sora bites the dust, then I’m also gone. It was rough seeing Sora lose again, but watching him take out a giant three-headed dog right after certainly was a sight. Although I swear I heard Hercules whisper to his little red friend, Phil, next to him that he weakened the monster. 

Maybe. But since it felt like I was fighting alongside him, I’m not ready to count Sora out just yet. He’s grown so much stronger day after day.

Entry 4: Note to Self, Never Let Sora Drive

You know, if the three of us did leave on that raft as planned, I always had a feeling that Sora might fight with Riku over where to take us. Sora’s never been one for his directional skills, that was always more Riku’s forte. Because of this, I always mentally prepared myself for the event where Sora would get us super lost.

WHAT I DIDN’T MENTALLY PREPARE MYSELF WAS FOR SORA TO CAUSE A GIANT SPACESHIP TO CRASH BECAUSE HE ARGUED WITH A TALKING DUCK!!!

That’s not even where it ends! This Deep Jungle is nuts! There’s a leopard that’ll attack you like every five steps, there was a giant Heartless that turned invisible, and Sora even got a gun fired at it! Granted that last one was because of some hunter jerk with a stupid mustache, but if he’s from this world, he’s part of the problem.

The only saving grace was the fact that there are giant tree trunks that act like slides and as many vines to swing on as I wanted to. Tarzan has got to give me some tips when I have the chance to meet him, it was like he was flying through the trees! I’d honestly enjoy the chance to talk to Jane myself as well. She seems so smart and would have so much to talk about. I think she’d make pleasant conversation. That being said, when she showed Sora a picture of a castle in the slideshow, I couldn’t shake this sense of… familiarity. Like I had seen it or something like it before. But where…?

Even though this world and I got off on the wrong foot, once I get my body back, I’m definitely making Sora bring me here so I can do all that!

Although I still have no idea how that’s gonna happen.

Entry 5: I don’t know why, but this place feels oddly familiar

Today may have just been one of the best days I’ve had since I’ve been living in Hotel Sora’s Heart, over here!

For starters, dogs. Sooooo many dogs! Leon told Sora about all of these Dalmatian puppies that got scattered across the various worlds. They’ve been taking the time to rescue all 101 of them, and they’re absolutely adorable! Ahhhhhh, I can only imagine playing with everyone one of them.

Secondly, I’m finding Traverse Town a lot more comforting than I originally did. Something about the tall building walls makes me feel nostalgic. I never was from the Islands to begin with, but where I originally came from is a mystery to me. I don’t think it was Traverse Town, but maybe it was another city. I’m sure that in travelling to other worlds, I might be able to remember more!

Today I even got to talk to Sora a little bit, albeit by accident, when he and his friends wandered into this old tower. I looked around and said to myself that it reminds me of the Secret Place, all dark and surrounded by stone. I never expected Sora to hear or see me! I had so much more to say, but when this wizard guy showed up, Sora couldn’t hear me anymore.

But that’s not even the best news: Right after, Sora ended up running into Riku! He’s safe! It was brief, Riku ended up disappearing moments after, but now we know he’s out there and can protect himself. Sora was even able to protect Riku from one of the Heartless!

Never thought I’d see that day where the roles were switched. It suits Sora.

Entry 6: I hate sand.

I may find not having a body to be a major inconvenience, but for once I’m quite pleased at the fact considering Agrabah, the world Sora and his friends just left, was full of sand.

At its worst, sand was rough, coarse, and irritating. It already got into my clothes back on the Islands, but around here I’d imagine it gets everywhere.

That being said, this world has got to be one of the most adventurous we’ve been to so far! Desert temples filled with treasure, magical genies, all in a faraway kingdom? It’s like all the games Sora, Riku, and I used to play when we were younger. If only Riku joined with Sora back in Traverse Town, he would have loved this!

One odd thing though, we ran into another woman, Princess Jasmine, who gave me the same vibes as Alice! Turns out she’s more than just a regular old princess, but one with special powers. I wonder what it could all mean...

Entry 7: Did you know that the stomach would eat itself without the mucus lining its walls? 

Back on the Islands when Sora, Riku, and I made plans to leave on the raft, we always wondered what kind of animals we’d see. The one that would always pop into our minds was a whale since they might be big enough to swallow us whole.

We always laughed it off and went back to working or playing, so actually getting swallowed whole by one feels very ironic. It’s a lot grosser than I thought it would be. Smells like fish everywhere you go, so I really hope Sora, Donald, and Goofy take some showers once they leave.

This whale named Monstro even swallowed this old man and his son, Gepetto and Pinnochio. The latter is somehow a walking, talking puppet!

But what’s even crazier is that out of all the worlds, Riku shows up here, only to kidnap Pinnochio! And not just that, I think he knows where my body is. Geez, Riku was being a real jerk about it, though. Said that Sora was fooling around and not helping, when I know for a fact that he’s doing more that Riku has! I mean, I’m in the guy’s heart, that’s gotta count for something!

I wish I could tell Riku that all this time, Sora has been protecting me. I know I give him a hard time every now and then, but out of all the people in the world, I’m really glad I ended up in his heart.

Entry 8: Rival Redhead Acquired

I know that my last entries make me seem like a jealous person, but mental diary, trust me when I say that I’m not usually one to be envious of others.

Until now.

Being in Sora’s heart, I sort of get a feel for his emotions. By all means, even without being inside him, Sora is pretty much an open book to begin with. It’s just that in being directly connected to his heart, I can feel almost every emotion he has. That includes the mess of emotions he felt when he came into contact with this mermaid named Ariel.

Yup, a mermaid. Atlantica is full of them.

It’s a pretty cool world! There are sunken pirate ships, an underwater kingdom, even a giant sea witch that Sora defeated! But nope, the thing that makes Sora’s heart flutter is another red head when he already has one right here! Ughhh, I’m really glad this diary isn’t physical, I might die if Sora or Riku ever found out I think stuff like this.

Still, Ariel isn’t a bad person so it’s not that I dislike her. She also loves adventure and wants to see other worlds. Moving past my jealousy, I think I’d love to be friends with her some day. Ariel and I are similar, but I think I at least have something over her.

Sometimes when Sora talks about me, he gets this squeezing feeling in his heart. Now I’m not gonna let Sora or Riku tease me over my feelings, I’m sure gonna tease Sora about his once I get my body back.

Entry 9: A lot more tricks than treats!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I enjoy going around to houses and getting candy, but I enjoy scaring Sora even more so. I mean, I definitely did that outside of Halloween, it’s just that the holiday made it feel special.

Needless to say, Sora finding a world exclusively dedicated to it is probably one of the best things I’ve ever found out! When Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrived, they even got special outfits to blend in! With Sora being a vampire, I could see Riku being a werewolf, but when it comes to me, I can’t choose between being a witch or a scarecrow.

There are even monsters! There was a talking skeleton who was surprisingly nice, a mad doctor, and a giant living sack of bugs! (It was super gross when he was defeated.) Sora got a bit squirmy when he died, so I really wish I was there to double down and make Sora sora yell out loud!

I definitely want to go to Halloween Town when all of this is said and done.

Entry 10: I miss candy…

So Halloween Town was fun for the thrills and chills, but felt severely lacking in candy. I may be a disembodied heart without a body, but my heart aches for something sweet! Which is why the 100 Acre Wood was torture for me.

Pooh Bear and I would get along. He loves honey, I love candy, it’s like we’re two peas in a pod. I too would probably get myself stuck inside a tree if I was desperate enough for a sweet snack. 

Pooh’s other animal friends are all so cuddly and adorable! Out of the cutest, I’d have trouble choosing between Piglet or Roo. Tigger reminds me of the stuffed animals I keep in my room. Part of me really wants to hold onto him and see if he can bounce around with me on it, like a pogo stick! When it comes to Eeyore, in all honesty I kind of just want to give him a hug...

Honestly this place is a nice change of pace. No Heartless to be found, it’s always a clear and sunny day out. When it’s night time there aren’t any clouds so you can see all the stars in the sky. I remember all the stories that Sora used to tell me about the constellations instead of learning how to find his way with them. That was more Riku’s job.

I’m glad to know that what I’m feeling when I look up at the sky, Sora is feeling the same. Take your time and relax, you’ve earned it.

Entry 11: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Sora, Donald, and Goofy!

Forget swinging through trees, forget playing with countless puppies, and forget scaring Sora, when I get my body back, I’m making Sora take me to Neverland so I can fly up high in the skies!

Wait no Kairi, focus, there are more pressing things at matter. Mainly, Riku has become a full on jerk, has sided with the Heartless, and is dragging my lifeless body around with him! I mean, my eyes were open, but my body was basically a ragdoll without me in it. I mean on the brightside, Sora was absolutely brimming with joy when he realized my body was safe.

That may or may not have made me feel an indescribable amount of joy and embarrassment, mind you.

I mentioned having an out of body experience in Wonderland, but having a literal one felt even weirder. When Sora got close enough it was possible for me to twitch my hand a little, sort of like I was reconnecting with my body. Sucks that it ended up being dragged away, I was this close to getting it back. What sucks even more is that Riku ended up fleeing to this Hollow Bastion place with it.

Still it wasn’t all bad. Body or not, I was still able to fly around with Sora. He doubted that I’d believe him if he told me.

I don’t think he’d believe me if I told him what I’ve been up to in his heart.

Entry 12: Riku…

I’m back in my body. I wish it was as simple as Sora making contact with it, but things took a turn for the worse this time around.

I need to start from the beginning.

Right before we reached Hollow Bastion, Sora was able to connect with me. He awoke a memory of mine that I’d long forgotten since I came to the island: my favorite story that my grandmother would always tell me. Remembering it gave me this warm feeling, one that intensified when we arrived at Hollow Bastion. 

Only to have that feeling crushed when Riku took the Keyblade from Sora.

I’m glad Sora was able to get it back and knock some sense into Riku, but for a moment Sora really felt at his lowest. Sora was able to become his old self again, but deep in his heart was so much hurt at the fact that he lost Riku to the darkness. Not just any darkness, but from this man named Ansem. He was the one who revealed I was inside Sora’s  heart. Sora was able to beat the possessed Riku, but in the end he made a sacrifice I don’t think I could ever pay him back for.

Losing Sora in my arms made me feel even more useless than I did while I was inside his heart. Interestingly enough, when my heart left Sora’s body, I felt another leave as well. It wasn’t like Sora’s heart, but certainly had similar vibes to it.

Regardless, somehow I was able to bring him back from being a Heartless, but the feeling of losing him in my arms like that is something I don’t want to experience again.

We ended up leaving Hollow Bastion shortly after that. When Sora and I were alone, I was finally able to tell Sora that I was with him the entire time. I had so much I wanted to tell him, but there wasn’t enough time in the world. Not to mention all the unfinished business we had back at Hollow Bastion. I wanted to come with Sora, but he was right. It is dangerous, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I didn’t really have any ways to protect myself...

I gave Sora my lucky charm. Wherever he goes, I’ll be there with him.

At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.

Entry 13: For Our Eyes Only

Hi there diary, this might be the last time I update this formerly mental journal. 

Sora’s gone off on another adventure to save Riku. He saved all of the worlds, but wasn’t able to save his best friend. If I was in Sora’s shoes, which I might as well have been, I would have done the same thing for either of them. As for me, I’m back on the islands safe and sound. Part of me wanted to jump across the darkness and into Sora’s arms once more. But after fighting for so long to keep me safe, I think the best I can do for Sora is to let this one wish come true.

I know he’ll come back for me. After all, he still needs to give me back my lucky charm. And when he does, I’ll make sure to give him this handwritten diary to help him understand just exactly what I went through on this adventure. No…

Our adventure.

---

When I started this fic, I was honestly thinking about dropping it and starting from scratch with a new idea. Quite frankly, I’m glad I decided to keep at it. I’m pretty proud of the result and feel that I’ve made a somewhat creative little oneshot!

Once again, thank you to the Sokai: Destined Oath Discord server for introducing me to SoKai Week 2020! Special thanks to the server member Gee for acting as my Beta Reader.

Thanks for Reading!

[ronitas]

Master of Masters: the truth is what you see with your eyes, not what you hear

What I hear: Sokai is canon, Sora and Kairi are inlove with eachother and have been since the first game, Sora and Kairi want to be together forever, everyone knows how much they like eachother, Soriku makes no sense and are more like brothers, Kairi is a great character and perfect love interest for Sora, Sora and Kairi are made for eachother and destined to be together forever, they shared the paopu fruit so their basically canon, Sokai is undeniable at this point KH3 pretty much set it in stone, its canon whether or not its said they are its canon, they dont need to kiss or do any really lovey dovey stuff to prove that their canon and love eachother.

What I see: Kairi is a pointless waste of a character with no personality or purpose other than to be Sora’s love interest and a dues ex machina to get Sora out of otherwise impossible situations by just blaming it on princess of heart powers. Kairi’s entire existence depends on Sora and without him she serves no purpose, so much so that Sora dies and fades from existence and instead of playing an active role like everyone else in finding a way to get him back she just sleeps for a year to absolutely no avail because again her character depends entirely on Sora and without him shes practically non existent.

Sokai is only semi canon on face value, it has no actual substance or development to back it up, the DLC tried rectifying this by shoving in moments where they didnt belong and playing down Riku to boost Kairi up because that was the only way to try and convince us that Kairi is really THAT important and THAT relevant that Riku had to be completely removed and ignored just for Sora to properly spend time and have moments with her that he didnt have before. Riku was even removed from being part of why his journey started and Sora only gives recognition to Kairi as the reason he started his journey despite Kairi and Riku BOTH disappearing that day but again, the only way to make Sokai even halfway believable is to remove Riku entirely. The DLC shoved so much Sokai down our throats as an attempt to do damage control for the travesty in the main game and all the other games where Sokai was practically non existent. Sokai is a hollow forced relationship with no real subtance or depth to it other than just Sora likes Kairi and Kairi likes Sora too and thats the end of it. We are TOLD how important they are to eachother, how deep their relationship is, how important she is to Sora etc, but we dont SEE anything that backs that up.

Sora and Riku’s bond has far more depth and substance than Sora and Kairis has ever had, even Re:Mind didnt change this fact. Soriku makes far more sense, has way more chemistry, has a way more deeper connection, are comfortable around eachother whereas Sora shows discomfort several times around Kairi including the paopu scene, the bond between Sora and Riku is so strong that Kairis been asleep for a year yet Riku’s dreams are the only thing thats connected to Sora and is implied to be the key to finding Sora in KH4. Whether Sora and Riku become canon or not their relationship will always make the most sense and have the most genuine build up that happened naturally and wasnt forced or fake, but sincere. Soriku’s relationship is the very definition of pure unwavering love, romantic or platonic their relationship is simply pure and will always be the most logical outcome in terms of pairings for Sora. The fact that Riku wasnt shown spending time with Sora for any of his final moments of life was the ultimate spit in the face, despicable and unforgivable. Every other trio is treated far better and shown way more of the bond between all 3 except for the Destiny Trio.

Kairi is lowkey not a great friend either, she jokingly suggested to Sora that she and him just take the raft and leave Riku behind, but joke or not just her having the thought at all is questionable, even if Riku was changing she just abandons him? not cool. They say their friends but Kairi is only ever seen really bonding with Sora and when push came to shove she was ready to abandon Riku rather than trying to help him, meanwhile Riku did everything he could to try and save Kairi, nuff said.

[blowingoffsteam2]

Ultimania Updates-SRT

Gathered in one place, here’s the updates from the new Ultimania (and maybe some other tidbits) added to the Sleeping Realm Theory (SRT) doc so far.  The sections these updates are found in are bolded so you can find them within the doc and read the surrounding context:

1.  The Theory Itself

Time travel at KG to save everyone’s hearts has been confirmed by Nomura! Look, see, where we said the second timeline went Save Everyone > Time Travel / Rewind > Xehanort Gay Dies After Decades Long Marriage Dispute, that’s been confirmed!

Q: When we leave the Final World, we are back to the point just before Sora and his friends were defeated. Why is that?

Nomura: “The power of awakening is essentially "the power to put sleeping hearts back the way they were." But the impact of forcing his friends' fading hearts back the way they were rewrote reality, and created a singularity. The rewrite caused the chronology in which they were destroyed to have "never happened." Source

2. Dive to the Heart

Now that the main interview with Nomura has been translated, it’s confirmed a very important thing for this theory.

“Q: The Final World, a place very important to the story, appeared in the game, but what kind of world is it?

A: It is a place where those just a step from death arrive, connected to the Station of Waking. Up until now, the Station of Waking was always a dark place where the floor was made of stained glass, where the condition of the inside of one's heart could be shown, but in this case I made The Final World a place where I could show [that] more concretely, a place similar to a portal to [people's] respective hearts. Within the game, it's said that sleep and death are intimately linked, so if one's heart were in a state of sleep and they found themselves in the Station of Waking, the idea is that if they moved on from there, they would find themselves in The Final World.” - Nomura, KH3 Ultimania.

What this says basically, is to arrive in The Final World during Dive to the Heart in the first place, your heart should already be “in a state of sleep”. Nomura has confirmed, before the first DTTH we see, at the very start of the game we play, Sora is already in a state of sleep.

3. KHII.9(Context: This update is placed in the translation section talking about Riku’s growth from saying his wish is to have “strength protect the things that matter”- “Daiji na mono”- in BBS to “strength to protect my cherished person” in KH3- “Taisetsu na hito”)

The Ultimania actually goes out of its way to explicitly state this growth on Riku’s character page: “‘I want to become strong enough to protect the things that matter.’ Roughly 10 years later, after many twists and turns, he has finally obtained the strength to protect the person who matters.”

4.  KH3 for realsies this time

(Context: This one is in regards to the “logo conspiracy”, just to show that this sort of obscure hinting is not beyond something Nomura would do)

In an interview with Nomura in 2016, he revealed that he hid secret clues in the cover art for 1.5, 2.5, and 2.8. Because of course he did, I guess!

“Nomura: There are actually two secrets about the illustrations from [KH1.5] until [KH2.8]. Extremely attentive KH fans might have already discovered them, but one is that Sora's movements change from sitting, to standing, to walking. One more is that when you line up the three illustrations, you'll notice that they show the flow of time with changes in the sky. [KH1.5] is sunset becoming night, [KH2.5] is the middle of the night, and [KH2.8] is night breaking into dawn. Those three illustrations have a message regarding the final chapter, [KHIII].”

Ultimania Update: Oh boy did you think Nomura was done? Cause he wasn’t!

These party people were confirmed by Nomura in the Ultimania to actually be robed figures, sneakily placed to look apart of the building, people hidden in plain sight. What’s silly is that people had been wondering this exact thing when the box art had been revealed, and that too got shot down on the same premise of “reading too much into it”.

5. The Paopu Fruit

In the Ultimania, Irino (Sora’s VA) stated that they recorded two versions of the paopu scene:

Irino: “We recorded both a sharing scenario and a not sharing scenario. During the editing, it wasn’t decided which [Nomura] would go with, but it seems in the end he went with the sharing scenario.” - KH3 Ultimania VA Interview

In an unseen timeline (the waking/real world) a litany of things could go differently, and while this tidbit could be nothing, it’s at least an interesting note and a fun little fact.

6.  Flowmotion and Attraction Flow

There’s a section showing concept art and planning for Attraction Flows. (thanks to @gummiphoned for the discovery and photos!)

In the bottom corner, there’s an in game concept example. 

With Sora in his DDD outfit.

Set in DDD’s Traverse Town. 

7.  Reality Shift

There’s a section that elaborates a little on the Combined Keyblade, confirming it to be the very same one we see in DDD.

Top Text: "During the special event in the realm of darkness, when Sora and Riku deal the finishing blow against the Demon Tower, the two of them used their fusion keyblade. That keyblade is the same as the one that appeared in 3D."

Bottom Text: "In 3D this fusion keyblade appeared in The World That Never Was when using Reality Shift."

8.  Promotional Materials

Later, official sources started to use a simple but unrelated, specific hashtag.

夢しかない (yume shika nai) translated to “ONLY DREAM” or just “There is only a dream”. The first time it’s used was the 6 days to go countdown

It was then used moving forward in all promotional tweets including release day (PlayStation japan was also using the tag). The last time they used this was the secret movie announcement tweet.

9.  The Secret Ending

This has actually been confirmed by Nomura to take place after KH3 and that when Sora disappears in the ending he arrives here. More or less exactly as we thought.

“Q: I see. Then, continuing on, I'd like to ask about the secret movie; is the location connected to the ending? A: Yes. After disappearing in the ending, Sora arrives in the world shown in the secret movie.” - Nomura, KH3 Ultimania.

10.  Shibuya, Baby!

Nomura also made note that this Shibuya isn’t the original in universe TWEWY world Shibuya. It’s Shibuya, but ~Shibuya~. As in, some kind of alternate version.

“Q: Is the place Sora is in the same world as the one in The World Ends With You?

A: It looks that way. However, rather than saying Sora has gone to the TWEWY world, the meaning is that it's not exactly Shibuya, but ~Shibuya~ (note: this is hard to explain in English, but instead of it being written in kanji, the name for "Shibuya" is written in katakana here. This basically means it's not the same Shibuya as in TWEWY or in the real world.) Also, although Sora promised Neku and his friends that they would meet again in Shibuya, this video is not connected to that.” - Nomura, KH3 Ultimania

11.  Rage Form

From the Dengeki Playstation interview:

--There's a form that appears called "Rage Form," which reminds us of the "Anti Form" from KH2. What is the setup behind that?

Nomura: The forms in this title are very different from that of KH2, so we decided to change all the names. Rage does indeed have characteristics that are reminiscent of Anti, but it's basically a separate thing setup wise. Anti is based on Sora getting completely stained in darkness, but Rage doesn't go quite that far. It's based on him going into a rampage state, controlled by feelings of anger.

12.  Namine

Nomura has since elaborated a little bit on what happens with Namine tho it still doesn’t really answer the biggest question. It’s said that when Kairi took the blow from Xehanort, this set her free (even if we don’t see a heart whatsoever). Nomura plans on explaining it more down the road, apparently.

13.  Xion

Nomura has since stated in an interview that upcoming DLC will go into Xion and how she’s here so, hooray!

[squiishiichaos]

How about buff kairi giving both sora and riku( the two being dorks who keep dancing around each other) love advice since she's with olette?

(So, I’mma assume this takes place in the part of Buff!Kairi AU I have yet to write.  In fact, I’mma write a scene that’s supposed to take place later in that AU, because I fucking love the image in my head.

Anyway, for anyone who doesn’t know what Buff!Kairi is, there’s a whole AU I wrote one chapter of and no one cares, so, fuck it.  Let’s begin this shit.)

____

She could admit–kind of–that at first, watching someone as put together and valiant as Riku get flustered over a fucking selfie had been…cute?  Unexpected?  Kairi wasn’t sure what the correct word was, but it didn’t matter anymore. 

By now, watching that blush stand stark against the pale contrast of his skin made her want nothing more than to feed her companion to the Heartless.  

Fucking Sora.  He’s distracting him again.  You’d think after all the bullshit and endless fights that the Brunet might one day grow up enough to stop sending risque selfies to Riku while they were in the middle of a make-or-break fight, but no, of fucking course not.  Because Sora was just as desperate for Riku to confess as Riku looked for breath right now. 

This is ri-goddamn-diculous.   I’m ending it.

Stomping her way across the battlefield, knocking heartless aside with a sweeping strike of her Lone Survivor greatsword, she hardly stopped to entertain the big body that attempted to barrel her over.  Simply held her sword out to the side as a pike for it to impale itself on before casually chucking it over her head and into another pack of shadows clumsily drawing toward her.   

On the same note that one might think Riku’d eventually get up the courage to confess after collecting an entire folder of flustered Sora pics, it’d be nice if the goddamn heartless got a clue, too.  They’d been whittling this pack down for the past few minutes now, and she was starting to get bored.   Where was Olette to keep her on her toes with messages not meant to be seen when she was in the thick of it?  Why couldn’t it be her phone that was chiming off?

Oh, well.   You’ve got a job to do, Kai.  Time to fuck some shit up.  And by some shit, she meant Riku.

Just so we’re clear. 

Batting another few heartless into non-existence, she finally tapered her gait to stand beside Riku and get a good look at what exactly was driving him mad in the middle of the field, and–in fairness–she could admit that if Olette was ever stupid enough to send her something so mindlessly provocative over a fucking phone, no amount of love would keep her from committing murder.  At that point, it would be justified. 

Much like Sora’s many other photos–the ones she’d glimpsed, anyway–he had snapped it likely right after a fight.    The remnants of a brawl lingered in the red flush dusted across sun-kissed cheeks, off-setting the blue sky in his eyes.   A glassy exhaustion had them closed half-way, lending a more sultry feel than the dirt and ichor stains on what she could see of his clothes suggested.    Speaking of clothes, his undershirt dipped an inch lower than normal, exposing more of his defined pecks for Riku’s private viewing; the collar of his jacket hanging off his arms and exposing the smooth skin of unmarked shoulders.   

With his head tilted back and gaze focused down at the lowered camera, his mouth was parted with just a slight peak of tongue at the edge of his lips, like he had been caught at the end of licking his lips.   His expression might have been meant to seem breathless, but considering who his intended party was, Kairi had no doubt that he had meant to look as fuckable as possible while playing it off as an accident post massacre. 

Below that disaster of a picture, the words, I’m so hot, Riku… just added icing on the cake.   

How much more obvious could he be?

“This…Kairi, how do I respond to this?!   I’m…I don’t…” Riku swallowed thickly and she had to act quick to slice down the Big Body that almost rolled him into a pancake.  It might have been a more productive conversation if she hadn’t.  “Like, who even does this?!”

“Your boyfriend.”

“He is not my–”

“He’s about to be.”   Sheathing Lone Survivor, Kairi punted the shadow that came racing toward them and quickly stole Riku’s phone from his hand in the ensuing chaos.   

Whipping him around by the lapels of his jacket, she elbowed another Heartless off her shoulder and kicked yet another one back to the abyss.  Keeping her guard high, she pulled out Lone Survivor and stabbed her into the ground to her immediate left before dragging Riku into her personal space.   When he attempted to draw back and resume his place on the field, she took the opportunity to grab at the ruffled locks of his hair and further mar them in a clenched fist.   

A hiss parted through his lips as she pulled the strands askew and quickly disheveled the rest of it.   Satisfied with that presentation, she grabbed at his wrist, and with a wrench of her arm, spun him around on his heel.   He yelped in protest, dismissed as she kicked his leg out to knock another Shadow back to its death.    

Grabbing at his other arm, she ran her nails up his skin just hard enough to leave behind red lines on his pale skin.   At the edge of his biceps, she grabbed the sleeves of his jacket and gave a hearty tug until they revealed the broad plains of his shoulders.   She made sure to rake her nails down the skin there, too, as she tore off the cloth and threw it atop another heartless zooming toward them, steering it back toward its encroaching allies. 

Once more manhandling him, he finally regained enough composure to tear his arm away just as her fingers caught at the fabric of his white undershirt and yanked it out from his pants in one foul swoop.   He clambered back with a sound not unlike a bewildered banshee.  “What are you doing?” 

Huh.  She didn’t know his voice could go that high.  Hell.  “Helping you.”

“H-helping me?!  Helping me how?!”

“Trust me, Riku.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to trust you–” he paused with another undignified shriek as she swung Lone Survivor in a sweeping slice just above where his head had been– “when you’re literally undressing me in the middle of a battle?!”

“Tell me, Riku.  You think that picture from Sora was an accident?”

“I mean, he is–”

“No, Riku.  The answer is no.” 

“But…” He trailed off, standing there idle while his brain tried to catch up and she was left to finish off the leftovers.   At least finally–finally–it appeared the scores of Heartless were finally depleting.  Finally.   

Too bad her patience was, too.   “Look.  He is playing you right now, and you’re too fucking dense to win this game on your own.  Either let me help you or lose.  It’s your call.” 

“Playing me how?”

“Holy Kingdom Hearts, how the fuck have you survived this long?”

“Hey!”  His offense fell on deaf ears.  

“I am so done with both your shits.  Come here.” 

“Kairi, I don’t–” Before he could finish his thought, she had already grabbed him by the arm and swung him around with a pivot.   Throwing him to the ground, he landed in exactly the type of stance she was hoping for. 

With his torso supported on his elbows, that startled green gaze looked at her from atop a blush that stood a prominent red against the pale white of his skin and hair.  It continued down his neck, disappearing beneath the rumpled fabric of his shirt, but was already gone where defined abs peaked out from beneath the drawn up edge of his askew undershirt. 

In the fall, his pants had slipped just the tiniest bit down his hips, allowing a sneak peak at sharp hip bones before vanishing beneath dark fabric.   With one knee slightly bent and the other stretched out, the material was pulled just tight enough to hug his legs and show what years of intense training could do to a man.  

Looking a bit scandalized and more than a little startled, she snapped a quick shot of his gaping mouth and flustered expression, then opened up his messages and attached it to a new thread.    

A shot like this really only needed two words. 

You’re welcome.

And.

Sent. 

“You can thank me later, Riku,” she said as she dropped his phone back in his lap and collected Lone Survivor back into her hand.  “We still have a few more rooms to clear before he recovers from shock and begs you to come home.”

“Wh…what did you do?”

“I won you the game.  Like I said–thank me later.”  

It wasn’t until two hours–and several dead armies–later that Kairi finally received a message from Olette.   

Unlike her normally wordy texts, this one was nothing more than a crying face holding up two thumbs up.   Not a second later, it was followed up by a picture of Sora–mouth covered by his hand and eyes wide, blush evident even with an obstruction in the way–gaping at the phone in his hand.  

You’re my fucking hero, Kai!

Better be.

>///

No, you’re not.  Not yet.

All social media was quiet for the rest of the night.   

[levyowl]

How Epic Mickey could fit into the Kingdom Hearts Universe so Oswald can get the Love and Attention he Deserves: The Text Post

Ok, so it’s been confirmed that Nomura really wants to add our favorite lucky rabbit into the KH universe, but for some reason, Disney told him getting the rights to Oswald would be ‘difficult’ for whatever reason. I know Oswald used to be owned by another party, but when Epic Mickey was being pitched, Disney bought back the rights, so they now own him fully. I’m not sure why Disney wouldn’t just let Nomura use him, seeing as they’re sure as hell aren’t.

As you can imagine, this is pretty sad. A surprising amount of people love Oswald, including myself. But it honestly got me thinking about how Epic Mickey could fit into Kingdom Hearts. They have some vague similarities, seeing as a lot of the older characters, such as Horace the Horse, make an appearance in both games, EM has some talk of hearts, but obviously, the rules of what a heart is is different in both games, etc.

So, as you can imagine, this was a bit of a challenge for me to think of, and this is going to be a long post. But I’ve been seriously reflecting on this topic for a while, so much so that I wrote this post on a Google Doc so I could properly get my thoughts together before I posted this.

Also, you never know if Disney could change their minds or Nomura goes through all the possible legal stuff and get Oswald into the game, so all of this could just me pointlessly screaming into the void, but I don’t care; I’m making this post. And keep in mind that this is what I personally would do with it. I am in no way a professional game director like Nomura, and if Oswald does make it into a KH game, it will probably be done better than my idea. Though keep in mind, my idea is kinda convoluted just like the rest of KH’s plot OOOOO lol jk. With all of that said:

All of this takes place between the events of BBS and KH1.

Disney Town and the world of EM are the same. Sorta (this will have to do with why Disney Castle is more pronounced in the overworld art in the timeline after BBS).

All the residents in EM live in DT.

Oswald is the Mayor of DT (Or at least the small town area we see in BBS).

We presumably don’t see him in BBS because he was too busy running the town in the background. Queen Minnie and Duchess Daisy were there to oversee the Dream Festival for him.

Oswald is personal best friends with King Mickey. Like, everyone jokes about them being brothers all the time.

After the events of BBS, we see Pete be freed from his prison by Maleficent. Right after this, Pete asks for help for immediate revenge on the residents.

Maleficent decides to completely destroy the world as you do.

More specifically, she wants to make the world fall to darkness and wipe the world and its residents from the minds of others (think of it like Xion’s disappearance)

Firstly, to get Pete further indebted to her so he’ll go along with her plans without question.

Second, if everyone forgets about Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Mickey after they were to fall to darkness, then that’s several enemies she wouldn’t have to worry about anymore.

Thirdly, she could use the hearts of the residents to create a powerful army of Heartless.

The fourth reason was she was feeling particularly bitchy that day.

All the while, Yen Sid senses the sudden spike in darkness in DT.

He warns Mickey about Pete and Maleficent, but orders Mickey to stand back and observe for now, as he only just became a Keyblade Master and Yen Sid isn’t sure if he can take her on by himself.

But ofc Mickey goes back to DT with Yen Sid’s Star Shard to confront Maleficent anyway.

However, he’s too late; Maleficent’s already started the spell.

Mickey fights past Pete but can’t quite make it to Maleficent before she creates a portal in the sky straight to the World of Darkness.

The residents, including Oswald, start to get sucked into the portal. As this happens, Mickey starts to forget some of them. (Like how Roxas’ memories of Xion faded slightly before and after she ‘died’)

Just like Roxas, Mickey gets a bit of a power boost in a desperate attempt to stop Maleficent and remember Oswald.

Before they get completely sucked in, Yen Sid uses his magic to change the destination of the portal and quickly creates a small ‘pocket world’ in his tower within an enchanted scroll on his desk with magic paint and thinner ala the Fantasia world in DDD (I’m sure you can see where this is going).

However, due to the darkness of Maleficent’s spell and the fact he rushed to make it, the world he created was a dark and twisted version of DT.

And since the spell was to make the residents fall to darkness, they all lost their hearts. However, in the world Yen Sid made, time doesn’t exist (just like the WoD), so they don’t become Heartless/Nobodies; they’re stuck in-between the process.

They still have their emotions and memories, but without their hearts, they can’t leave the world.

Besides, even if they could, they would only become Heartless and/or Nobodies.

Mickey manages to use his Star Shard to transport himself, Pete, and Maleficent to the Keyblade Graveyard before she sucks in all the residents, but Oswald and the others who appear in EM are sucked in and forgotten.

Yen Sid, due to the trans-dimensional/spatial and magical properties of his tower, is the only one who remembers.

Considering that not even Maleficent remembers what happened now, she takes Pete and teleports away to do whatever she did between BBS and KH1 plan her revenge.

Mickey, confused as to why he’s suddenly in the Graveyard again, teleports back to the Mysterious Tower.

Yen Sid tells Mickey about what happened, but Mickey can’t help but feel a little detached since he can’t remember any of it.

However, when Yen Sid mentions Oswald, Mickey feels a sadness in his heart that he can’t quite explain. A single heart rolls down his cheek.

Yen Sid tells Mickey how he needs to go into the scroll and fix the world. He tells Mickey that he can’t fix the darkness from the outside, and how he can sense Heartless in the scroll.

Mickey grabs the paintbrush and dips it into the paint.

“What do you mean? Couldn’t we just use the paint and thinner to fix the problem here?”

“Mickey, don’t!”

Mickey, surprised by Yen Sid’s outburst, jumps back.

In the process, he accidentally knocks over the paint and thinner onto the scroll.

OhDearGodWhatHaveIDone.jpg

Mickey tries to wipe up the liquid puddle on the scroll, but it’s too late; Yen Sid tells Mickey that the damage is irreversible here on the outside.

With Mickey’s only option made clear, he jumps into the scroll.

From here, the events of EM play out pretty much the same, with some differences.

The real world references in EM are either completely missing or made a lot more subtle (things like the Walt Disney statue with Oswald are removed while small things in the levels are still there).

The Blotlings are a new type of Heartless instead of just monsters.

The magic paintbrush Mickey brings with him turns into the Epic Masterpiece Keyblade.

The “multiple Petes” in EM are animatronics this time, based off of other personas of the KH Pete (like Captain Justice and Captain Dark)

Characters like Smee who were in KH before while also in EM would just be animatronics.

The Donald, Daisy, and Goofy animatronics were made by Oswald to try and replicate their powers to protect them from the Heartless. This obviously failed.

The Mad Doctor was obsessed with experiments with the heart, like Xehanort before and during EM (tho obviously not as bad or as successful as he was). 

Oswald and the Mad Doctor were working on these animatronics before Maleficent tried to wipe them out (The Donald, Daisy, and Goofy animatronics were incomplete before they were sucked in, hence why they’re so damaged in EM).

Oswald was named King of Wasteland in place of Mickey.

If everyone were to remember the residents, they could possibly get their hearts back.

The hurt and betrayal that Oswald felt in EM are not because Mickey got the spotlight and replaced him; he’s upset because Mickey, who was a brother for him, doesn’t remember him anymore. And even worse, he caused the Thinner Disaster.

At the end of EM, Mickey regains his memories of the residents and especially Oswald.

He wants to bring them out, but they can’t leave without their hearts.

Mickey is torn because he knows the Wastelands, while fixed for now, are still dangerous as the Heartless could possibly come back and the Mad Doctor is still on the loose.

But even if they could leave, bringing them back would possibly bring back everyone’s memories of them, including Maleficent’s, so it’s dangerous either way.

So Mickey does the next best thing he can think of: he bequeaths Oswald.

Since Oswald doesn’t have a heart, he couldn’t summon a Keyblade the natural way, so Mickey hands him the Epic Masterpiece Keyblade.

However, Mickey’s bond with Oswald was so strong that when he handed it to Oswald, his hearts reacts to it even though it’s so far away from Oswald’s body.

Basically, the bond and memories that Mickey shared with Oswald were strong enough to call to Oswald’s heart for the Keyblade to spring from.

It’s called the Lucky Remote Keyblade, (Obviously based off of his remote from EM2).

Mickey leaves Wasteland after promising to tell only those trustworthy about them.

Basically, only Mickey, Yen Sid, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Chip, and Dale remember the residents of Wasteland to any extent. They all keep the secret. (Mickey probably told Ventus, Aqua, Terra and the others about it after KH3.)

Donald treats it just like he treats the Order; if anyone even remotely hints at it, he scolds them like he does Sora.

EM2 is canon; all the previous notes apply. Those events take place before KH1 but obviously waaay after EM1 in the timeline (Ten years is more than enough time for both of these games to happen before KH1).

Well, there you have it! This post is way too long and I’m tired :’)

Maybe I’ll draw the Keyblades and my redesign for a KH! Oswald at some point, but this is more than enough for now.

[dreadfuldeimos]

Fanfic: Be Still, My Beating Heart

A fanfic I’ve written set post Kingdom Hearts 3. It has MAJOR MAJOR spoilers for the game, so anyone who hasn’t played it or finished it yet, please be wary and stay away!

Summary: Three years after the defeat of Xehanort, Kairi is stuck in a "new normal.” As she strives for the title of Keyblade Master alongside others, she realizes she has to deal with her personal demons in order to succeed. But allowing her heart to be her guiding key might take her in a direction she never necessarily anticipated. (Exploration of Disney Worlds is common in this! If anyone wants to see certain non-Disney animated worlds, send them to me in an ask!]  

Pairings: [Lea/Kairi][Roxas/Xion][Terra/Ventus][Isa/Namine][Sora/Riku] Rating: T for Teen currently, but expect upgrades later down the line for both violence and sex. 

Three chapters of this have already be completed, and I’m including the first chapter under the cut! Click this link to check out the entire fic!

I never realized how much of a difference three years would make.

Three years after the Second Keyblade War, I stood in the Land of Depature's great hall, front and center with the other wielders I fought alongside. We weren't the only ones in the room; there were maybe twenty or twenty-five others, all newcomers that have either started manifesting their weapons or were very eager to try. The grand hall had never been so vibrant before. Aqua and Terra presided over us from the front platform, the only two Keyblade masters to train a new legion of pupils. Well, there were more than two--actually, there were three Keyblade Masters who could, arguably four...

...but it had been years since any of us had heard from Sora and Riku.

As Aqua started addressing us and the crowd fell into silence, I couldn't help but tune her out and focus on the one thing encasing my mind: the past. I had shared the paopu fruit with Sora before the battle. He was supposed to be a part of my life, no matter what, from that point on...but once we had made it back to the Islands, ready to relax and spend time with our friends, he disappeared from my grasp, like fractals spinning off into the sunlight. I haven't seen him since.

Sora's disappearance had an impact on everyone, and it was immediately evident. We called an emergency meeting at Master Yen Sid's tower to discuss what happened to him and what our options were. I was certain Mickey and Yen Sid knew more than they let on, even though they explained to us their theory: Sora had most likely tapped into a similar variant of time travel that Young Xehanort used to return to the past and prevent me from dying. No one in the room looked at me when this was brought up, and I could only assume they all blamed his disappearance on me. I wouldn't have blamed them if they did.

The meeting revealed a few more secrets--all of which were surprising, and all of which were focused around one, particular girl. Namine. When Master Yen Sid motioned for her to speak her piece, she opened it with an explanation. She had never been my Nobody at all; Namine was her own person, the Princess of Light that came before me. She explained her past to us with some degree of detail. She was under the guardianship of Ansem the Wise; despite not having many memories, she recalled seeing him as a father figure until his experiments on the heart prompted him to use her as a test subject. She had befriended Lea and Isa when they would sneak into the castle, and was the girl they had both been searching for. It was touching to see their reunion, but it was peculiar to know that I wasn't her Other, I was her vessel.

It wasn't until after that meeting that Terra, Aqua, and Ventus returned to the Land of Departure to restore it to its former glory; a year later, they had laid all the groundwork for a Keyblade Academy, and even brought back a familiar, not-so-nice face as a redeemed ally: Vanitas. He looked so much like Sora. I often caught myself staring at Vanitas, hoping so intensely I could pretend I was looking at Sora instead; I never could. It was difficult to keep my emotions from rising to the surface, but it must have been harder for Riku. He left the next day, without saying a word; it's been a year, and he hasn't returned.

I looked up as Aqua was making her closing remarks, the words "may your heart be your guiding key" echoing through the foyer. As she and Terra descended the steps onto the floor, they urged everyone to mingle and get to know each other. It was the largest group of Keyblade students that had been assembled in quite a long time, after all. But my heart was my guiding key, and it guided me straight from the hall and into the dormitories we lived in. It was so hard for my light and personality to shine brightly without Sora around to make me smile.

When I shoved my key into the lock and gave it a twist, I heard two doors open instead of just mine. Panicked, I looked up to see Lea unlocking the door to his own room. He gave me a lazy smile as he put one foot across the threshold. "Not in a socializing mood, Princess?"

"No, not really," I said dully, walking into my room and closing the door behind me. I heard him dumbly stutter out "A-alright, guess I'll see you in training then" as I sank down against my door. I knew I shouldn't have been so curt with him--clearly he was just trying to make small talk and see if I was alright. Just because he spent more time hanging out with Roxas and Xion than he did with me didn't nullify our friendship or anything...

I sighed and pulled myself off the floor, only to go flop down on my bed. Morning would be here soon enough, and then it would be just another day back on my grind.

The class of Keyblade wielders I was in didn't have a name.

We functioned like a normal school, as far as grade levels went. We had first-year Keybearers, second-year Keybearers; eventually, there would be third and fourth years as well, maybe even fifth and sixth years, depending on how many individuals we found to train. As far as my class went, though, we didn't have a name. We were simply the ones who fought a war (some of us with minimal training) and made it back to tell the tale.

There were eight of us, including myself: Roxas, Xion, Axel, Namine, Isa, Ventus, Vanitas. I never wanted to train alongside Vanitas, I had never expected Namine and Isa to materialize Keyblades, and I had assumed Ventus would have been a Master by now. Everyone was joking around, goofing off, having fun; I wasn't. I stood away from everyone, hesitant to join in with their horseplay. It all reminded me of Sora and Riku. Despite the fact I have lived with only the shadows of their memories, it was different this time.

"So the first thing we're going to address," Aqua started, walking into the room and causing everyone to fall silent, "is your primary project for this educational year." She sat cross-legged on one of the benches, looking up at all of us standing in front of her. Everyone looked like they wanted to burst out in chatter at the excitement of a project. "As the highest caliber of Keyblade wielders," she continued, "it is going to be your jobs to go out in groups of three and find new, strong hearts that have the potential to use a Keyblade. You're more than welcome to pass on your power to individuals you may meet along the way that you deem fit."

At that, everyone began talking at once.

"I finally get to explore other worlds? That's so exciting!" Namine gasped.

"Trust me, it isn't that great with Heartless attacking you every five seconds," Xion retorted, shuddering.

"I wanna be on Vanny's team!" Ventus said with enthusiasm, gripping onto his Other's (or was he a brother? I wasn't sure) arm excitedly.

"No one will be picking their own teams," Aqua sighed loudly, as though getting everyone to silence one more time was particularly tiresome. "Master Yen Sid decided team compositions for you. He picked individuals he believes will work well together based on skill, fighting style, and level of experience."

"So what are our teams?" Roxas piped up, looking at Aqua anxiously. He was like a kid in a candy store, or an excited puppy; I couldn't choose which. "C'moooon Aqua, I wanna know!"

Aqua sighed again, pinching the bridge of her nose as though she wanted to tell Roxas that she would tell him if he was a bit more quiet. "Our first team..." Aqua said slowly and deliberately, relief washing over her face as the gaggle of unruly teens began to get quieter. "...will be Roxas, Xion, and Ventus. Yen Sid has emphasized that the three of you make an excellent team due to your similar, yet different, fighting styles. Most of you guys are attack based, so he recommends the three of you alternate between the following roles: bruiser, magician, and defender. Once I've called your teams, go stand off somewhere with them until we begin our training drill."

Roxas, Xion, and Ventus giddily jumped up and down, the three of them rushing off to a corner of the field, muttering about team names and mascots. I heard Ventus suggest they call themselves "The Sora Squad," and I cringed when they started to overflow with giggles. I would have much rather had Sora himself there than all of them combined, despite how callous of a thing that is to say. "Team Two will be comprised of myself, Namine, and Isa. Master Yen Sid wants to keep you two on a similar playing field as everyone else, but these missions to other worlds might be too much for the two of you to handle on your own. I will be tagging along to be the defender in your group; Namine, you will be focused on magic, and Isa, you will be focused on attack."

The two smiled at each other, holding each others' hands as they walked off towards another corner of the courtyard, whispering excitedly between each other. I wished it was Sora and I holding hands and jabbering away about how exciting it would be to travel the worlds looking for more strong hearts of light. As I watched them walk, I froze; there were only eight of us in this class. If five of them had already been assigned to teams...I looked around at who was left standing. Oh no...

"And Team Three, you should all be able to use deductive reasoning to know who you are," Aqua finished. "Kairi, Lea, and Vanitas. Lea and Vanitas, Master Yen Sid wants you two to alternate between fulfilling heavy hitting and defense roles so Kairi can start to focus on honing her latent magical ability."

"Latent magical ability?" It was the first thing anyone had heard me say that day, and I said it with an eyebrow raised and my arms crossed. "I didn't think I had any magical ability."

Aqua very nearly gawked at me. "You're a Princess of Heart," she explained. "You have quite powerful magic ability that you need to be able to tap into. It's going to become your greatest asset, both in combat and even in your every day life."

"Yes, Master Aqua," I nodded respectfully, walking off to follow Lea and Vanitas to the back center of the training courtyard. Out of all the individuals I had to get stuck with, Lea was one that I didn't mind so much; we had spent a lot of time together in a timeless dimension of Merlin's creation to train for the Keyblade war, even though we didn't do much other than sit around and watch the sunset together. Vanitas, though...I minded being around him. In fact, I had half a mind to tell Aqua to switch me out with Isa, just so I could be on a team with someone who didn't have any relation to Sora at all. How was I going to train with Vanitas every day? How was I going to fight the waves of sickness that rolled over me every time I wished he was actually Sora? How could I get used to this?

Fuck.

[fandom-rants]

Plotholes, Story Rushing, and Shoddy Writing In Keyblade Graveyard, Pt. 1 (p.s. there are SEVERAL issues to unpack here)

~~~~THIS CONTAINS COUNTLESS SPOILERS FOR KHIII~~~~

PLEASE NOTE that this will not be in perfect order; there are so many things wrong with the story in the Keyblade Graveyard that I struggle to balance it all without having a raging meltdown. As someone who adored the Kingdom Hearts franchise (yes, you read that right; past tense) and memorized all the lore and played all of the games (save Coded; I just watched that one because it does not look to be worth it at all) and loved the characters, I can only express deep and profound disappointment in the story. The rushed, chaotic garbage mess of a story.

And those who say otherwise? Have chosen to ignore the story for the sake of the ‘happy ending’ (which is a farce; a happy ending doesn’t include Sora sacrificing himself again for the damsel in distress trope).

If you thought some of my other rants were long, you aren’t ready for this one. It’s so long it needed to be split up into parts.

1. Aqua and Ven

a. Firstly, it’s good to know that Nomura is literally incapable of writing a female who isn’t a damsel in distress. Good to see Aqua go “I’m gonna prove how strong I am,” only to need immediate rescuing. Brilliant.

b. So it’s that easy to wake Ven up, huh? His heart’s been linked with Sora’s for Sora’s entire life, it’s been sleeping in Sora’s for so long that Sora has taken on Ven’s mannerisms, but they can just separate without a single hitch, huh? Just like that, huh? And there’s no problem waking up, it takes no time at all, and he can move in his body without even remote difficulty, huh? Basically, there are no repercussions to any of this, huh? I call bullshit.

c. Going back a page, it’s good to know that these guys all showed up at Castle Oblivion and didn’t even bother clearing the place to ensure there weren’t any enemies around to - /snorts with laughter/ - immediately try to kill Ven while he was still vulnerable. Who could have ever expected such a thing, amirite?

d. Why aren’t Riku and Mickey there?!?!?!

e. This was actually so anticlimactic and boring. Why wasn’t Terranort/wtf-ever there to add some drama and tension? Why was it simply ‘grab Aqua, which can be done merely by having Sora show up and beat her up, even though Riku and Mickey got their butts kicked by her,’ ‘arrive very quickly and suddenly at Castle Oblivion,’ ‘unlock it,’ ‘go inside and wake up Ven’? Why was it so boring? It’s something we’ve been waiting for since 2010, and our reward for waiting 8 years is ‘ta-da! Boom, bam, done!’ Did a child write this?

2. The Requisite Romance Scene Before the Final Showdown

a. We have to really sell this romance, or else people will be pissed about the ending! Quick! Let’s have Sora and Kairi share a paopu fruit and leave their friend completely out of it! Riku doesn’t really matter, anyway. He’s not integral to the entire storyline like Kairi!

b. To make it clear, Riku was integral to the storyline while Kairi was not. Something I’ve already mentioned several times. So why in hell did Sora say he wouldn’t have gone through the things in the games if it wasn’t for Kairi, when that girl hardly entered the storyline at all? It was Riku who started the whole story off, Riku and Kairi both whom Sora was looking for in KH1, Riku only whom Sora looked for in CoM, Riku only whom Sora looked for in KH2, Riku only whom Data-Sora cared to run after, Riku only whose concerns made Sora go through the Mark of Mastery... but yes. It was only for Kairi that Sora went through the things he did. Riku, keep sitting on the sand all night while these two pretend you don’t exist. Perfect.

3. We Arrive and Everyone Fights Against Heartless

a. Is this what we came here for? Is this what Xehanort planned when he told us to come here? To sic a bunch of heartless on us? How does this in any way complete Kingdom Hearts? How does this in any way help Xehanort’s overarching goal? Hell, ignoring that, why would he sic heartless on us when we’ve defeated them a million times? How in god’s name do we fail against them this time????

b. Can I just say that it is beyond suspense of disbelief to have Kairi and Lea finish their fights before Sora? Or that the entire group would finish, see Sora still fighting, and then just run forward without him???

4. Terranort

a. How is he back? No, seriously, let’s look at this. He was brought from the past. But when you defeat Young Xehanort, he says he’s going to return to the past and live his life up to the present. But Terranort can’t do that! Which means Terranort can’t go to the past and stay on as Ansem the Wise’s apprentice. Which means he can’t trick the other students into becoming nobodies - so how is Saix there? How is Axel there as Axel? How do the others retain their memories of being Nobodies? He also can’t become a heartless or a nobody himself, since he’s not returning to the past to do so (because we save him instead of killing him)! So how the hell could Ansem and Xemnas exist??? You can’t argue about alternative universes because those haven’t been introduced in the plotline, and even if they had been, that still wouldn’t explain how this universe had an Ansem who took over Riku and a Xemnas who existed whatsoever. What the fuck.

b. Why in five flaming hells is he just waiting there at the beginning? No, again, I’m being serious. Why? To defeat the seven keyblade wielders? Why? They’re apparently needed to clash with the thirteen Xehanort clones, so why on earth is he there? For sad plotline feels? 

c. Even that doesn’t make sense. After all, Aqua had all night to warn Ven about the state she’d last seen Terra in. Apparently, that was not a topic she thought necessary to bring up. Go figure.

d. How the fuck does Xehanort even have him??? All those who played Birth By Sleep, I can only assume you all have dealt with the same frustration and confusion as me. How did Xehanort retain control over Terra’s body after Lingering Will defeated him?? Because I did. Allllll the way back in Terra’s storyline, I defeated Terranort. So how did he show up in Radiant Garden? The blast of light (or whatever) from the end of the storyline should have, at the very least, turned him into a heartless. Right then. From the start. So how did he even survive long enough to get to Radiant Garden, let alone return to the Keyblade Graveyard? What had been the point of that final battle?

5. Lingering Will

a. I was waiting for him to show up. It makes less than no sense to have him only do so at Namine’s behest after Ven has already been KO’d by Terranort. That entire debacle in the Final World should never have occurred, simply because Lingering Will should have shown up the first time.

b. I laughed in disbelief when I saw Terra’s keyblade turn into a hooked whip and then a giant fuck-off gun. I already thought the transformations were pretty random, considering a keyblade is supposed to serve its own purpose and strength without needing to turn into a door or a frying pan or a pair of yo-yo’s, but to see Terra’s do the same thing when no one else’s had? Oof. Painful.

c. Lingering Will was Terra’s mind, but apparently he doesn’t need that to reconnect with his past body! (Even though it was never with said body; it was always separate, so...?!?!?!) Instead it disappears from the plotline (like so many other necessary details) and acted as KH’s version of Fallout’s Mysterious Stranger, apparently deciding to disappear to wherever said stranger goes after doing its duteous cameo.

6. That Entire Debacle With Everyone’s Hearts

a. There’s just... so much to unwrap here. The fact that it even happened, which I’ve already noted the plot failure there. The fact that Kairi needed protecting not once, but twice, only to fall, anyway. Is she even capable of being something other than a damsel in distress? (Looking at the rest of the story of this world, I can do nothing but snort at the fact that I even bothered typing out that question.)

b. The whole shit with Chirithy. We get it, KH. You want to peddle your stupid mobile game. (A game I’ve been playing for over a year now, like a good, dutiful KH player, only to find that the plotline shows up roughly once every 300+ “chapters.”) This Chirithy shit isn’t plot; it’s bullshit. Nice to know Kairi’s heart was definitely lost, though, because bullshit on that, too!

c. Why on earth are everyone’s hearts just hanging out on other worlds? Why are they in worlds I’ve specifically already gone to in this game? Why not any other worlds from any other previous games, or worlds I’ve never been to? Oh, yeah. To bring back the annoying shit from KH1, where you enter fragments of worlds for no reason in order to fight some random heartless. Is this plot?

d. The whole ‘Dive Into the Heart’ thing being the equivalent of ‘the power of waking,’ which is also apparently how Mickey could get into the Realm of Darkness (and here I remember Mickey saying he could only do that by being in a world when it fell to darkness! Silly me). Just admit you had no idea what the hell you were doing when you made up that ‘power of waking,’ Nomura. Shit.

e. Let’s go a bit farther, because the whole “Dive Into the Heart” thing was awful. Why is that a thing? Why do you need to ‘dive’ into a heart (which, he didn’t, he didn’t, he just dove into different worlds to find said hearts, wtf) in order to save it from... what? Death? Darkness?? What the hell even happened here-

f. How is Kairi fine and waiting for us??? This actually made me think Sora had fallen to darkness (or dreaming, or what the fuck ever), because how in hell was Kairi okay? Namine said flat-out that Kairi’s heart had been lost like the others, and that such was the reason why Sora had found her in Chirithy-Verse (it isn’t any ‘Final World,’ just as it isn’t anything I’m ever going to take seriously). So how was she perfectly fine and, uh, able to... uh... meet with him??? In some sort of... Heart Realm Between??? What happened there?!?!

g. I get that this floaty, hand-holding scene was supposed to once again peddle the romance in some last-minute bid to make us okay with the bullshit self-sacrifice move Sora bounces into with all the finesse of a Sequel Coming trailer, but all it did was piss me off (as every romance scene did in this shithole of a game). There has been next to nothing on the whole ‘romance’ thing other than us being told ad nauseum that it is a thing. If you can’t even give me normal, non-romance scenes between the two, then all it’s going to be is forced trollop that you expect me to swallow simply on your say-so. If you can’t give me a lead-up to the romance, don’t be surprised if you fail to sell it to me. And if you fail to sell the romance to me, then why the hell should I ever find any part of that ending all right?

7. The Time Ret-Conning

a. This one’s a minor gripe, so I’ll just say that I despised the multiple times the game acted as if the previous failures hadn’t happened. ‘Here you go; try again!’ It makes no sense when you realize Sora actually did things to ensure we got this second chance, even less sense, somehow, when you see that neither Sora nor anyone else acts any differently to rewatching the same thing happen all over again - like, what the hell kind of time travel bullshit is Nomura writing here? Is there any rhyme or reason to this shit whatsoever?

8. That Entire KHUX Fuckery

a. I honestly cannot believe we had to watch Sora get saved by Ephemer. A lot of people loved the cameo, but the cost to the storyline is far too high. Our main character needing rescuing in his Final Battle is always bad writing; what’s the point of watching the main hero’s growth if it turns out he still needs to be protected? This other character should have been the one we followed, not the one needing rescuing! And hell, what was the point of all that growth if, in the end, it still wasn’t enough? Simply based on storytelling, it was poorly done. But the fact that he got rescued by a long-dead (I hope; everyone has a bad habit of just living forever through Bullshit Time Mechanics) character from another KH game? Disgustingly shoddy. Thanks for nothing.

b. What the fuck was that triangle spam for??? I was there when the challenge came to KHUX, for those with the highest scores to appear in the game. I honestly thought their names would just be in the credits or something, because how could you possibly add them in without making it the most horrendous bullshit possible for a video game? Answer? You can’t. That entire thing is something I’ve been trying to delete from my memory since I saw it. What a fucking travesty.

9. "I Can’t Do This Alone”

a. You are literally talking to someone, your best friend, and saying you’re alone. What the FUCK.

b. What strength did you get from Kairi, you twit? Riku, on the other hand...!

TO BE FREAKING CONTINUED... Edit: I know Nomura is BS-ing some answers to pretend he didn’t fuck up. I don’t care.

[starspatter]

WIP Challenge

Tagged by: @summertime-children

Tagging: @astrologista, @atsushishelteredinmoonlitjasmine, @benditlikegumby, @cryptoriawebb, @ibmiller, @iceperialprincess, and @otherwise-uncolonized

Challenge: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

I'll also do what deta did and post comments + short fragments.  (Be warned it'll be very long though, and most of these are actually Pokémon fics since I was a much more prolific writer when I was younger, and that was the fandom I wrote mainly for.)  I also won't be including "Heroes and Thieves" on here (or any DC/superhero stuff really since I’ve essentially “done” everything I had planned for now), as *technically* it is all already completed in draft form, and I'd like to keep things a surprise for whenever I do end up posting~

Hero and Seek

“Well, we’re all together now, so let’s have some fun, all right?  Don’t worry, it’s really simple.  One person is the ‘demon’, and the others have to hide from him.” “Eh?  A ‘demon’?  But that’s scary!” Three pairs of eyes turned up to her in fear.  Those eyes, which screamed and streamed the stark color of blood the first time she saw them – not just from tears, but from the ‘monster’ they believed dwelled deep within.  She thought for a moment, then removed her scarf. “How about this then?  Whoever’s the ‘hero’ has to find and rescue the others.  It’s a very important Blindfold Brigade mission!”

I’ll start with the one Kagepro fic I did attempt at least, which I described previously here, but is basically about Ayano + the Meka Trio playing “Hide and Seek” for the first time.  (I actually had it originally titled as that but just came up with this new version on the spot lol I’m so clever~)  For some reason I’ve always been hesitant about reading/writing Kagefic, but I actually got a fair bit farther in this than I thought, so perhaps I should try to finish it someday... Princes and Frogs

“K-Koizumi-senpai… Um… Please go out with me!” Itsuki stared down at the tiny underclassman, watching a rose mantle spread slowly over her cheeks as she gazed back with shy, but determined hope in her bespectacled eyes.  The older boy could make out his own handsome face reflected off the lens, a virtual image embellished by sparkling hearts and stars.  With dim satisfaction and relief, Itsuki ensured that his bright, patient smile betrayed no hint of the weary sigh that whispered behind it.

This is an intro excerpt of the first chapter I planned to write for an ItsuHaru fic from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I only ever posted the prologue for.  ItsuHaru was my first obsessive OTP, and I still think about returning to this story someday (especially since I have now proven to myself I *can* finish a full chapter fic if I put my mind to it), but it’s been so long I feel like I’d need to refresh my memory of the whole series/am still holding out hope for a Season 3 to motivate me again. *shot*

Fall to Pieces

As Itsuki stared at Yuki’s vacant visage, his resentment kept building.  His hands clenched, rigidly gripping the edge of the table.  Somehow, it just didn’t seem fair.  That she could so easily ignore the madness fate had dealt them, never reveal any signs of suffering or bitterness towards her situation, and yet always, always wear the same damn expression on her face. How could she possibly stand it? He can’t stand it. (any more)

An ItsuYuki one-shot, where Itsuki basically blows up at her from pent-up frustration over having to wear a mask all the time and his hidden feelings for Haruhi.  The two start to form a connection over their respective “unrequited loves”/understanding of each other’s pain, and one thing leads to another...  Like “Heroes and Thieves”, this is in fact technically “complete”, since I actually used the leftover steam from the former towards finishing at least one thing I started a long time ago - although I’m still not sure I’m totally satisfied with it/kinda want to wait to figure out what I’m doing with my other ItsuHaru fics before I publish it by itself.  (Incidentally the working title comes from an Avril Lavigne song lol.)

Little White Lies

“Perhaps the best thing for the princess would have been to fall in love.  But how a princess who had no gravity could fall into anything is a difficulty--perhaps the difficulty.” -George MacDonald, The Light Princess - Haruhi Suzumiya was walking on air. Itsuki could tell by the way she glided into the clubroom, sailing like a paper airplane – or a balloon with an inflated ego to match.

...Yeah that’s as far as I got with this.  This was meant to be a “White Day” story, which is Japan’s “answer holiday” to Valentine’s Day, where guys reciprocate by giving gifts to the girls who gave them chocolates.  I always wondered how the boys actually responded in-universe, and I imagine Itsuki secretly stressing out a lot about taking care to not upstage Kyon, but at the same time wanting to sincerely express his genuine appreciation and feelings towards Haruhi - whatever they may be.  In the end, he settles on a copy of “The Light Princess” by George MacDonald, which I highly recommend reading since it reminds me so much of this pair, and in general is such a fun and snappy “tongue-in-cheek” take on the fairytale genre. Sora in Wonderland

But wait- this one was a bit different from all its brothers and sisters.  For one thing, it was wearing a fancy waistcoat with pockets- and sleeves that were far too long for it.  As soon as it passed by her head, it stopped and slowly turned its head around to stare directly at her with its huge circular yellow eyes.  Sora stared vacantly back for a full five seconds before the information registered in her brain and she suddenly yelled, “Hey!”, and sat bolt upright.  The Heartless panicked upon hearing her voice and fled at top speed across the white sands, headed towards an opening in the rocks; Sora jumped down off her perch and immediately chased after it, no longer caring about the heat.  The Heartless hastily disappeared inside the cave, and Sora soon followed after, determined to catch the freaky little thing and ask it some questions, like what it was doing on the island at this time, and where on earth did it get a waistcoat.

OKAY SO I TOTALLY FORGOT THIS WAS A THING but apparently I tried to write a Kingdom Hearts parody of “Alice in Wonderland” lmao.  I’ve never actually played the games (aside from half of CoM), but it was probably inspired by a crossover art my friend drew? ^^; Also Sora is a girl in this bc that’s my headcanon and I’m sticking to it. XP *shot* Note: The following fics are all Pokémon-related so I’ll just be listing them in roughly chronological order (from most recent to ancient, although they’re all pretty old at this point). Stranger

The elder slowly rose to his feet, gazing at the boy, the champion, the stranger.  “In all this time, why didn’t you come back?  You could have seen for yourself how she was.” Lance wanted to yell something defiant, like a child.  But he wasn’t a child.  Children were forgiven for their mistakes.  And he didn’t want to be forgiven. The professor’s ancient hand came to rest on the boy’s shoulder.  “It’s the way this town works.  We don’t talk about things that happen outside our own world.  Maybe it was too long ago – too late for you to understand.” Lance didn’t say anything. “At least talk to Delia.  She’s been wanting to see you.” “Sorry.  It’s too late.” “You’re a bastard.” “I know.”

So this looks to be among the last things I’d written before taking a long break from fanfiction circa... 2007, jeeze.  Over 10 years, huh.  But, I think it speaks a certain amount of maturity that it’s the piece I liked most upon rediscovering.  It’s based on an idea I once had that Lance was (unknowingly) Gary Oak’s father, and he was friends/rivals with Ash’s father, who originally won the title of Champion but relinquished it so he could be with his “wife” and kid (or rather, then-pregnant teenage girlfriend).  *Something* happened though (I forget what I had in mind) and he ended up dying, leaving Lance bitter and depressed so he refused to return to Pallet Town because of too many painful memories.  (Though he *cough* “comforted” their other female childhood friend for one night of drunken grief before he left. ;()  What I like most about it honestly is the parallels bw Lance’s relationship with Ash’s dad and their sons’, and that amidst all the angst I enjoyed portraying the earnest energy and optimism of Ketchum(?) senior (”like father like son” after all).  I was definitely inspired by Mitsuki’s father in Full Moon wo Sagashite/Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist by making him a total “dork dad” who’d brag about his (illegitimate) family on national TV during the championship tournament lol.

Ihavenoidea

Either way, I get the feeling this really wasn’t what I had in mind when I made my decision to quit training.  I mean that in an intuitive sort of way.  Like, sometimes I feel as if I’m not meant to be here, like my life should have ended up differently someplace else.  Perhaps this is just one of those weird inconsistencies I told you about.  Perhaps not.  Even after all that’s happened to me recently, I still can’t really be sure about it.

...No seriously, I have no idea where I was going with this.  As far as I can tell it’s written from the POV of Gary Oak, whom I’ve always had a lot of... “complicated” feelings towards.  It probably has something to do with another concept I’ll discuss next, although for some reason it sounds like I was going for some sort of AU? *shrug* By contrast to the above, it reads like a whiny teenager complaining about his life - which makes me cringe but is probably an accurate portrayal of who I was at the time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This one was actually dated a little after the previous, so my best guess is it was some kind of vent rant where I would “give up” writing/creating and “childish” ideals for a while, as I was wont to do - but I still always come back to it somehow... RainbowMolly

Molly stepped out from the car and onto the dusty road, her heart beating wildly.  She could hardly believe she was actually here, of all places. The ride had been long and mind-numbing with anticipation, and now that they’d finally arrived at the destination, it all felt somewhat surreal to her. A small bear clambered out from the vehicle, joining her as she stopped to take in the rustic view that met her bright blue eyes.  She smiled and picked up her Teddiursa, cuddling its warm, fuzzy body close to her own. Her gaze traveled down the road which stretched in both directions, houses lining up against its margins. She followed it with her eyes towards a hill in the distance, on top of which sat what looked like a quaint little farmhouse with a windmill, turning in the summer breeze.  She breathed in the country air, catching whiff of a faint salt smell from an ocean in the distance. So this was Pallet Town.

...Why I didn’t actually name the file “Chasing Rainbows” - which was the title I had planned for this - I don’t know.  This dates back to an old idea I had where I believed Molly Hale from the third Pokémon movie was secretly the true “God” of the Pokémon world - in the sense that the entire universe was an unknowing fantasy of her own creation, similar to Haruhi Suzumiya (ok fine this was totally a crossover/rip-off of the same concept so sue me OTL).  In a place where children never seem to grow up and can go on grand fantastical adventures forever, Gary always struck me as an anomaly who willingly *chose* to forego such a life to pursue more “adult” interests by becoming a researcher.  So I saw him as filling the role of “Kyon” - the cynical narrator who was destined to ground “God” and bring her back down to earth, but at the same time be won over by her innocence and charm and learn to appreciate “kids’ stuff” again.  However, the Legendaries were actually aware of the power Molly holds, and so saw Gary as a threat to their very being - as by “waking” the dreamer and having her face reality meant erasing their kinds’ entire existence.  As the “apocalypse” nearly occurred in the third film, Mew and Celebi took on human disguises (in the form of May and Max respectively) to investigate Ash, who was able to calm Molly and “save” the world by “perpetuating” the delusion (and whom Molly totally has a crush on btw *shot*).  So it’s a bit of a love triangle lol, with Mew and Celebi (*cough* an alien and a time traveler, get it? *shot*) acting as mediators/interference.  (Although Mew might’ve secretly shipped Gary and Molly herself. ;O)

Betrayal

And these blades, these damned scythes that attached themselves to my arms when I was born, a curse upon me since birth, though it had not been apparent up until now.  They were covered with blood, the vital crimson liquid that flows through our bodies, now dripping down the steel surface in a webbed pattern, drops beginning to splatter the pure, emerald grass below.  The arm felt heavy and weak as I tried to lift it, as if it did not belong to me, but that was only a wishful thought.  I gazed calmly at it, inspecting the intricate designs the flow of the substance had created, as if it were an abstract piece of artwork. Tentatively, a pink tongue rolled out and caught a small droplet of it just before it fell from the sharp edge, just to convince myself that it was real.  The semi-sweet, metallic taste confirmed this.  I had indeed taken these men’s lives, just as I had taken hers.

So I remember this was written from the POV of a Scyther who seemingly went on a murderous rampage.  I only know that I wanted to give him an “Edward Scissorhands”-like story, since the idea of having such sharp objects attached to one’s limbs so that one could never directly “touch” another without being a danger is pretty tragic.  I suspect “her” was someone (a human?) he cared about but killed by accident, and after that he was only seen as a symbol of power/treated as a tool to incite fear before eventually rebelling against his “master”... Roses

“If you love someone, you should give them something that’s yours. That shows how much you care for them.” In the darkness, I pictured his smiling face, explaining to me as he wrapped a present for his girlfriend. His blue eyes were shining with a sort of spirit unfamiliar to me; I guessed, a feeling of love.

Another “dark” take on a Pokémon’s biology (I really liked writing explorations of those back then lol), this time of Roselia.  The idea was that a Roselia was so in love with her trainer that she would do anything for him - including allow him to cut off her arms so he could give them to his girlfriend.  I actually ended up turning it into a poem at one point:

Love is like a rose they say, And affection leads to grief they warned. For in the end love betrays, Its Beauty maimed by a poisoned thorn. You gave me pure water with a smile. Your cheerful face became my sun. I offered up my blood to you, And in return demanded none. Chop off my wrists, and tie them together. I’ll gladly bleed myself to death. In order to give you that which I hold most dear. My dear, my dear, Won’t you accept this bouquet? You take it, smiling warily. A blush creeps onto your face. And in those eyes I can see A garden of roses stretched out, Composing a wondrous place. Then you bound my hands in lace, And brought them to the girl next door. You presented them to her with grace. … My blood continued to pour.

Fanfic

She smiled at me, although something about her expression indicated something wasn't quite right.  I watched as she glanced over towards the west, her gaze lingering momentarily on the setting sun.  The glowing, orange sphere was slowly sinking behind the distant mountains, peaks cloaked in a pale, lavender haze illuminated by flickering beams of gold and scarlet cast across the horizon.

More accurately, I found this buried in a “catch-all” file where I had several (mostly finished) fics saved.  This was meant to be from the POV of an Eevee who had just evolved - supposedly into an Espeon due to happiness and bond with her trainer, which is what both wanted.  However, since it took place at sunset, she didn’t realize she had become an Umbreon instead, and her trainer ended up abandoning her for it. ;( It was a warm

Children’s shrieks and laughter echoed across the park as they flocked towards each other, and soon were chasing one another round the playground, weaving in and out between the swings as they partook in an innocent game of Tag.  One child was It; she was trying desperately to catch one of her friends so that they would take over the job instead.  Then it would be her turn to run away, for none of them wished to play the loathsome role of It.  Or was it because they feared being tainted by the person’s touch?  It must have been one of the two, for while she would struggle to reach them, catch hold of them, they would only flee, thoroughly enjoying the fact that they were vexing her.  Twice she nearly caught one.  Her fingertips were almost within reach of one of the other girls’ dresses, whose russet tresses were flowing wildly from the rush of movement and shining with golden highlights as the rays of the sun struck individual strands.  The target shrieked and shook her head, whisking her skirt free in time to escape capture, laughing with glee at the sight of the girl left behind, miserable and alone. 

Yeah I totally just went with the default beginning of the first sentence lol.  I guess this comes full circle with the first Kagepro fic I mentioned (although I’m not even sure I was aware back then that the Japanese version of the game literally called “It” a “demon”, which is even more fitting).  I believe this was part of a Pokémon series I was writing involving a creepy little girl and Mewtwo who would bring about the end of the world or something like that, but generally I guess I was just going for a “Catcher in the Rye” feel. *shrug* Golden Lights

The pale, rosy fingers of dawn were filtering in through the Granite Cave entrance, basking a small area near the opening in pinkish illumination.  Just out of reach of its expanse sat little Mika, huddled in the gloom of the shadows, watching the light creep steadily towards her as the glowing ball of fire rose slowly towards the East.  She knew about the Light that came from Outside.  There were plenty other small apertures broken into the cavern walls and ceiling that allowed some thin streams of gold brilliance to trickle through.  She had always done well to avoid them.  The brightness was like poison to her skin.  But they weren’t the Lights she’d had described to her by the old Crobat that always resided now deeper within the underground chambers, dozing now, most likely.  He wouldn’t awaken until night came round, and she did not wish to rouse him and perhaps disturb him from a pleasant dream.  She was very wise about things like that, being the young child that she was.  Still, she would have liked to hear a story to comfort her just then.

Last one I could find, about a Sableye who, like Icarus, literally “flew too close to the sun”.  In this interpretation I imagined that Sableye were creatures who could not stand sunlight at all, as it would cause their skin to burn.  But Mika (pronounced like “Mica”) always dreamed of going outside to see the “Light” anyway.  She was eventually tempted by Mew to leave the cavern under her angelic PROTECTion and step into the Light, who was acting as Ho-Oh’s messenger to “recruit” souls to “live eternal as an element of Ho-Oh’s Guarding Flame“, as the PROTECT faded and a “holy fire” began to spread.  I guess I was going for a Biblical/”Rapture”-esque reference.  (...Man I sure was obsessed with the endtimes as a kid. *shot*)

[themattress]

More bullshit from Mod A in regards to Xion.  Mod M is more reasonable (although I question if toxic male fandom does hate anything that reads like fanfiction at first glance...I think that if it reads like the kind of fanfiction they like, then they’ll eagerly accept it. I like to consider myself equal opportunity in this regard: if it reads like any kind of bad fanfic, then I dislike it.)

I’m with @riniuchihaa here. For me, Xion, far from being the best KH character, was the first glaring neon warning sign that the series was going off-course, that an original character was being created for the sake of it despite not being able to impact much of anything given her placement, and then was not ever let go of even though the excuse given as to why she was forgotten by KH2 should have rendered it impossible for her to appear in the series again.

“not a damsel in distress, action girl or sex object”

Is she not those things, though?  She has to be rescued or protected several times throughout the game. She wields a Keyblade and can even be better at it than Roxas if she’s absorbed enough of his strength. And there are a lot of creepy guys online that will argue that she is sexy, particularly with KH3′s model of her suggesting that she’s not wearing anything underneath that coat, which is open all the way to just above her chest. By KH3, she’s even taken Namine’s “plot device to make convoluted shit happen” status. If anything, people take issue with her being all of those things, and not even being them as well as other KH girls. She’s very derivative with little to add for herself.

“she’s a regular human being with a regular human emotional arc”

I would actually say that of Xion in the manga.

In the game, I think this is a case of projecting. Xion’s personality and arc are written as such a blank slate, with more people talking about Xion and what she’s going through than her and it being onscreen, that it’s easy to project on to. But when looked at objectively, there isn’t much humanity to it at all.

Ask yourself this: what is Xion like when she’s not around Roxas and Axel, doing missions and eating ice cream? What are her likes and dislikes, her own personal hobbies or aspirations? What are her feelings on matters completely unrelated to her friends?  For the life of me, I can’t come up with an answer. The closest I can get is with the text of her Secret Reports, where she honestly shows more character than she actually shows in the game itself (but then, that’s the same with Roxas and his Diary entries.) 

Before her identity crisis kicks in, all of Xion’s scenes are shared with Roxas and/or Axel, in the context of missions, ice cream, and being good friends with them, simply going along with whatever they’re doing and saying. Any feelings of inadequacy she feels during periods of time where she’s “malfunctioning” are skimmed over, and again is talked about more by other people than by her. Once her identity crisis happens, any scene she has apart from Axel and Roxas either still works them in somehow (they are consistently her biggest motivations in her own personal conflict, the only reason she’s conflicted about her existence is because of them since they give her a reason to exist) or just focuses on her freaking out about the fact that she’s a replica whose personality was formed based on the fragmented memories of another person that leaked into Xion through that person’s Nobody, which makes her less fit to exist than those who aren’t meant to exist. Yeah, totally a regular human emotional arc right there!  Can’t count the number of times in the history of the human species that people have had to go through that!

Kairi in KH and Namine in COM actually felt like human beings with emotional arcs in spite of their extraordinary circumstances. Xion feels more like KH2′s Kairi and Namine, where I get the basic trope behind their personalities and development, but can’t really pin them down as three-dimensional and realistic. That’s Xion - the writing for her is very trope-y, not human. The main points of how she was written were three-fold: as a plot device (a means of getting Roxas from point A to point B), as a wish-fulfillment character (she’s basically Tomoko Kanemaki’s self-insert), and as an exploration of a theme (the “What Measure is a Non-Human?” theme that Kanemaki is obsessed with). The humanity being inferred in regards to her being a trans girl case study was not at all intended to be there, and it can only happen because she was sketched thinly enough for it to be applied to her. 

“complains that she’s taking too much space or stealing the spotlight”

I’m sorry, but this is a valid complaint. When it was announced there was going to be a game about Organization XIII set between COM and KH2, everyone was wanting and expecting more development and focus on the members who had already been firmly established, most of whom were in desperate need of such development and focus. So to suddenly have Xion introduced and be the major focus of the game, whether she’s actually on-screen or not, would be very jarring and disappointing. 

What’s worse is all the games she pops in after Days, as not only does it destroy the established rules of canon in regards to her fate, but she ultimately steals the spotlight in an even more harmful way in KH3: Kairi, the original KH girl, who had been receiving build-up for YEARS as a Keyblade-wielding Guardian of Light, is literally screwed out of this role in favor of Xion, her Mary Sue copycat whom no-one asked for to begin with and whom many people weren’t keen on having return, as not only did it destroy the main thing she had going for her (her nature as a tragic character) but it robbed Kairi of development and focus that, again, she was in desperate need of. But Xion got over 30 more votes than Kairi in a Japanese popularity poll, so...priorities?

“Xion’s story is about the right to define her own existence, to live as her own true self, etc.”

No, that’s not what Xion’s story was about. It was about her learning that she had no right to her existence because it was actively hurting the existences of others, including her best friends’, and that the right thing to do is to disappear. I take some issue with how it played out (mainly that Xion accepts this way too easily and becomes a “Too Good For This Sinful Earth” type who does the right thing for the sake of her friends even when a more angry, selfish and conflicted Xion would’ve been more engaging and human, and that Riku is OOC in his treatment of her considering his treatment of Roxas), it was still incredibly tragic and it owned that. So for that tragic story to be undone in favor of a “lol, just kidding, Xion can exist and get a happy ending with her friends after all, no tragedy here!” way of appeasing the fans who called foul and raised a stink about it (especially in Japan) will never sit right with me, especially when the writing doesn’t even TRY to justify it. It just happens for the sake of it.

“It has a lot to do with the fact that Xion is a young girl whose story expects us to genuinely empathize with her”

OK, here’s a tip: it is rarely EVER a good idea to expect your audience to all feel a certain way toward something and try to force that reaction. “Death of the Author” is a thing, which is why you’re best not taking sides or playing favorites when making a story, you’re better off putting your personal feelings aside and just letting things play out, allowing people in the audience to make up their own mind. When the story pushes for the audience to genuinely empathize with Xion, with lines by others such as “poor Xion!”, then it’s not surprising that the opposite effect happens: some fans don’t like or empathize with her because they resent the hamfisted attempts at being told that they should. 

“That’s like saying Kairi didn’t matter in KH1 because Sora forgot her in COM”

That’s a false equivalence if I ever saw one. KH came out before COM, and Sora didn’t forget her so much as she was replaced by someone else, Namine, in his memory, which drove that story’s conflict. Its resolution was Sora learning the truth and remembering Kairi again. Kairi is still a factor in COM, a very important factor at that. Days came out after KH2, where there isn’t even a hint of Xion, she is not a factor in that game because she wasn’t invented yet. Sure, Xion matters to Days, but that mattering doesn’t feel like it amounts to much when she isn’t seen, heard from or mentioned for the entirety of the game it was leading up to.

“But so what?”

So, it feels incredibly unnatural to have a character jammed into a pre-existing timeframe and pre-existing dynamic prior to KH2, with mass amnesia being used as a plot device to explain away why she wasn’t present in any way in KH2, only for every game taking place after KH2 (and thus after Days was made) to suddenly start featuring Xion again, with the mass amnesia plot device being casually discarded. What’s worse is how canon rules were obliterated so that Xion could return in KH3 and reverse the tragedy element that made her story effective to begin with, at the expense of characters like Kairi who have been around longer than Xion and who desperately needed exposure more than Xion. Seriously, in addition to the point I already raised about Xion taking Kairi’s place, just think about this: characters that were created as a trio, Sora, Riku and Kairi, are no longer a trio, just the duo of Sora and Riku, while characters that were created as a duo, Roxas and Axel, are now a trio thanks to Xion. It feels like a slap in the face to all the fans who liked Kairi and the Destiny Trio, and it’s a big reason as to why Xion’s inclusion in the series feels like a mistake to those fans and thus why she’s such an off-putting character to them.

The only statements made here that I agree with is that Xion sadly wouldn’t have gotten as much hate if she was a badass, older male character, that her being forgotten due to memory magic isn’t really a mark against her since that’s a cheap plot device that happens to a lot of characters in the series, and that you can’t really do the story of 358/2 Days without her since she’s so integral to it...but on that note, the story of 358/2 Days didn’t need to happen. The KH series during its early days was meant to be Sora, Donald and Goofy’s story, so leaving the period of time where they were asleep a blank made perfect sense. We never needed to know about Roxas’ time in the Organization beyond what was said and shown in KH2, and to this day I honestly wish we hadn’t.  In game form, anyway. The manga is great, it can stay!

[videogametim]

My Top 10 Games of 2018

2018 was a solid year for video games. There were a lot of games that I ended up liking a lot more than I thought I would, and a couple of indie surprises as well. I think 2017 was a very hard act to follow and as such I’ve had a tough time deciding the order this time around, but in the end I still feel very good about the 10 games on this list.

10. Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)

What a surprise this turned out to be. I bought Obra Dinn based solely on the fact that it was Lucas Pope’s next game and much like Papers, Please, it’s a very unique type of game. In Obra Dinn you are charged with investigating the mysterious return of a ship thought to be lost at sea, whose crew had all mysteriously perished or disappeared. You walk around looking for dead bodies of the crew, and using your magic compass you are able to view a tableau pinpointing the moment of their death. Using this information it’s your job to fill in the journal and figure out how each and every member of the 60-person crew died and who or what killed them. There’s a lot of guesswork involved since you aren’t given a lot of detailed information, but thanks to the fantastic audio cues it was one of the most satisfying and rewarding games I played all year.

9. Tetris Effect (Monstars Inc./Resonair)

Tetris Effect is easily the coolest edition of Tetris made to date. In addition to being a wonderful VR experience on the same level of Rez Infinite or Thumper, Tetris Effect features almost everything a good Tetris game ought to have. Plenty of different game modes are included such as classics like Marathon or Sprint to the weirder ones like new Purify or Mystery modes. But the standout is definitely Journey mode. Functioning as a campaign, this mode takes you across almost 30 unique stages each featuring its own incredible dynamic music that progresses as you clear lines, and beautiful visuals that are greatly enhanced in VR. I expect this will be the game I keep coming back to from this year to play every now and again, and will definitely be my go-to Tetris game.

8. HITMAN 2 (IO Interactive)

A follow-up to 2016′s HITMAN (and my personal #2 game of that year), HITMAN 2 expands upon it in almost every way. The briefcase is back. Blending mechanics have been added for big crowds and bushes. The levels are orders of magnitude larger and while there’s only 5 of them, they’re all of the quality of 2016′s Sapienza level. There are also a couple of new modes too. One of which is a Sniper Assassin level where you are perched in a sniper’s nest overlooking a wedding and given many targets to take out, and the other is a multiplayer versus mode where you race against another player to take out a target faster. 

But perhaps the most pleasantly surprising improvement has been in the quality of writing, specifically for 47′s character. You can tell they spent a lot more time ensuring he has lines for some of the more whacky scenarios he can end up in, especially when he gets the chance to talk directly to his targets. HITMAN 2 is ultimately more of the same, but it’s a lot more and definitely the game worth picking up if you’re a fan of the series or stealth games in general. 

7. Yakuza 6 & Yakuza KIWAMI 2 (SEGA)

Unlike last year with 0 and KIWAMI, I feel very similarly about the two Yakuza games that came out this year so I thought they should occupy the same spot. The main thing that sets these new releases apart from previous entries is the new Dragon Engine. It’s a pretty big departure in feeling from the previous combat engine, but it allows for a lot more freedom since street battles are no longer constrained to an arena. You can run as far as you like, you can drag enemies into nearby shops and restaurants, and the new ragdoll physics are utterly hilarious. Both games also feature a new side activity (a tower defense style game in Kiwami 2 and a reverse tower defense style game in 6) that ties in with well known members of NJPW. 

As far as story goes, I think both of them are pretty good. Having never played 2 back in the day, it definitely holds up to and even surpasses some of the later games’ stories with one of the best antagonists of the series in Ryuji and an even better partner character in Kaoru. KIWAMI 2 also incorporates the cabaret club minigame from Yakuza 0 with a whole new storyline, and some great new substories. Yakuza 6 on the other hand is a pretty decent finale for Kiryu’s story. It makes some callbacks to previous games (especially 0 and 2) and some fun new characters along with the vibrant new location of Onomichi. It’s sad that Kiryu’s story is over now, but I still have a strong hope for the future of the series.

6. Deltarune (Toby Fox)

Certainly the biggest surprise of the year was Deltarune. A new project from Undertale’s Toby Fox, Deltarune most notably features a new party system for battles and more detailed graphics. It’s got all the writing and music I’ve come to expect and love from Toby, a new cast of characters, and a promising story. Deltarune isn’t finished yet and it will be a long time before we see its conclusion, but Chapter 1 is an incredible start.

5. God of War (Santa Monica Studio)

I didn’t expect to like the new God of War as much as I did. I grew up with the series and I wasn’t sure how to feel about this completely new over-the-shoulder direction. My worries were quickly put at ease however, with how much fun Kratos’ new axe was to use and all of the abilities you could unlock throughout the game. Perhaps my favourite part is the map itself; while it is an open-world game, it is the exact right size. It respects your time and you never take long to get somewhere interesting, and your exploration is rewarded adequetly. This design philosophy seems to be lost on a lot of modern open-world developers and its refreshing to see it done right in God of War. As for the story, it goes in a very interesting direction and the dynamic between Kratos and his son Atreus unfolds in some satisfying ways, managing to give Kratos some real character development beyond angry bald man. They are definitely using this one to setup more God of War games, and they have revitalized my excitement for the future of this series for the first time in a decade. 

4. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country (Monolith Soft)

The Golden Country takes place 500 years before XC2 and outlines the events leading up to it. There are many familiar faces, and the story expands upon many events Rex and his party learn about in the base game. Much of the game takes place on Torna and its a varied location with lots of different environments and enemy types. The biggest improvement from XC2 is the battle system. It’s a lot more straightforward this time around because there’s no more core crystal system where you have to do gacha pulls to get new random blades. There’s just the 3 party members and their two main character blades which makes for guaranteed combo and chain attack potential throughout the game, whereas before you would have to get lucky and try to optimize for it. Clocking in at about 30 hours, I think one could definitely make the case for playing this expansion either before XC2 to see the story setup, or playing it after for appreciating the character development. You can tell a tremendous amount of love and care went into making this expansion, and being included in the XC2 season pass makes it a tremendous value.

3. Monster Hunter World (Capcom)

It’s been awhile since I got so obsessed with a specific game that I wanted to do nothing else but play it when I wasn’t at work or asleep but Capcom did it. Having only played 4U previously on the 3DS for about 60 hours, it cannot be overstated how much work they put into making this series more palatable. Whether it’s through streamlining weapon upgrades by showing us the weapon paths, or getting rid of consumable whetstones, or just showing us the direction the monster is in after collecting a couple of tracks, or finally upgrading from god damn PS2 models, or just putting it on a proper console again so I don’t have to get carpal tunnel from the 3DS. The list goes on and on about all the things that made this Monster Hunter the one that got me hooked. They’ve supported the game with a ton of free post-launch content too including new monsters and fun crossover skins. If there is any game to point to and say Capcom has cleaned up their act these last couple of years, this is it.

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Sora Ltd./Bandai Namco)

There are a lot of things I could say about Ultimate, but I think the most important thing to remember is that it is an incredible collection of fighting game content. There are a ton of characters, stages (with 3 variants of each!), and almost a thousand songs. Sakurai has gone to even greater lengths to ensure that this game can be enjoyed by players of any inclination. Whether you like to play with stocks or stamina, or if you wanna use all items/no items/whichever items you like, there’s probably a rule setting for you. This is finally the Smash game that has gotten me interested in the competitive side, fighting one on one without items and as such I have an appreciation for it now. New characters like Incineroar, Simon/Richter, and K. Rool are a blast to play, and characters I missed in Smash 4 like Corrin, Ryu, Cloud, and Duck Hunt have been a blast too. The game has really rekindled my enjoyment of the series and I’m trying all sorts of characters I never would’ve before. I would be totally okay if this was the last Super Smash Bros. game, and I look forward to seeing what the future DLC characters end up being. 

1. Valkyria Chronicles 4 (SEGA)

VC4 is assuredly my favourite game of 2018. I’m a big fan of the fantasy alternate-universe WWII setting established in the first Valkyria Chronicles, and VC4 takes place around the same time. It follows the tale of the Federation Army’s Squad E led by commander Claude Wallace. Nearly every character is likeable in some way and all of them get some meaningful character development; the main characters through the story and the side characters through their own events where they interact with other members of the squad. The english voice actors really do a tremendous job selling these characters and their weird quirks. The gameplay is very similar to the first game with some new features like the Grenadier unit class or the halftrack APC you could use to quickly move multiple troops around the battlefield. If you are a fan of turn-based strategy, alternate history, or just straight up great characters I cannot recommend this game enough. 

That’s all for my 2018 list. There are a few more games that I’d like to acknowledge from the year that didn’t quite make the top 10, but I’ll do that in a seperate post next week. If you’ve read this far, thank you so much for doing so. I’m very excited about the upcoming year in games!                                                   

[minijenn]

Keys to the Kingdom Chapter 3

AN-Another chapter, this time focusing on the bad guys! Interesting stuff for sure! I won’t keep you from it, so here ya go! Enjoy!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/183131244364/keys-to-the-kingdom-chapter-2

Chapter 3: To Seek the Darkness

And people who say things they don’t really mean, really mean?

In the wake of the supposed defeat and destruction of the original Organization XIII, the group’s former base of operations had been left abandoned. For almost an entire year, the World that Never Was and the grand castle at its heart lay completely empty and silent, bereft of even the Heartless and Nobodies that were known to naturally spawn there. But with the rise of a new Organization with a new purpose, the shadow-steeped world’s usefulness began anew as well. And once again, the members of the Organization gathered at their former headquarters, waiting in the wings for whatever it is their leader required of them next.

In their current idle time, two such members traversed the unchanged gray corridors of the castle, remembering their winding twists and turns well even after their relatively recent respective revivals. The pair carried on a rather casual conversation, though even despite that, their tones were hushed, lest any unwanted prying eyes or ears be on the prowl. Something that was a very high likelihood, considering the various familiar faces that had returned to fill out the ranks of the new Organization XIII.

“So, why are you back?” Marluxia asked plainly, only barely casting a glance at the member keeping pace alongside him.

“Hmph, nice way to greet your old partner in crime,” Larxene scoffed, though she was still smirking all the same. Her tone was enough to elicit a similar sardonic grin from the graceful assassin, though it was quick to fade as his companion continued. “So, why do you think the old geezer took us back?” she asked, genuinely curious. “He must know we backstabbed the Organization back when Xemnas was running it.”

Marluxia shook his head. “Xehanort doesn’t care about you or me,” he said evenly. “To him, we’re nothing but empty husks. The old Organization was no different. Xehanort needs thirteen vessels to hold his essence.”

“Husks?” Larxene repeated, clearly not fond of the idea. “Not me. You know you and me are way above being just paws in someone else’s game. So instead…” the savage nymph’s grin deepened with a clearly sinister idea as she positioned herself just a bit closer to Marluxia. “Why don’t we just stage another coup instead?”

The graceful assassin sighed almost tiredly as he offered her a disapproving glance. “Larxene…”

“Oh, come on!” Larxene pouted with playful pleading. “It’d be fun. And it might actually work out this time without a dirty double-crosser like Axel around to throw a wrench into our plans. So… what do you say?” At first, Marluxia offered her no replay as he instead continued on his way, even with the savage nymph trailing right behind him, still seeking an answer. “Well?” she pressed impatiently. Finally, the graceful assassin stopped and turned to face her, his expression unreadable even as he prepared to reply and, at least as far as Larxene was concerned, give her the answer she hoped to hear. And yet, before he could, their conversation was unexpectedly interupted by another member who just so happened to round the corner at that very moment.

“Oh please,” Demyx scoffed, clutching his sitar as he joined the pair. “You guys couldn’t do it last time, what makes you think you could pull that whole ‘coup’ thing off now?” The melodious nocturne grinned as he strummed a few notes on his instrument. “You gotta play it smart, like me.”

“What?” Larxene shot back crossly. “You’re not smart! In fact, you’re just about the dumbest person in the Organization, but old and new!”

Demyx shrugged, seemingly unoffended. “Well, you heard what Marly said. I don’t have to be smart.”

“Or capable, or likeable, or attractive,” Larxene listed off, her hands on her hips. “A cereal bowl would make a better vessel!”

“Whoa, now you’re way out of line,” Demyx countered. “I am extremely imposing… When I want to be. Which is, admittedly, almost never.”

“Well, that’s one thing you got right,” the savage nymph huffed coldly. “Looks like the old man is getting desperate if he’d take someone like you back into the Organization. Probably only ‘cause his plan to get the true prize he’d had his eye on backfired on him.”

“Huh?” Demyx frowned, confused. “What prize?”

“Ugh, seriously?” Larxene exclaimed in appalled disbelief. “You can’t be that stupid. But then again, since this is you we’re talking about here, maybe you can be.”

“You and a few of the others who were only just brought back are too late to have known,” Marluxia interjected much more calmly. “But she’s talking about Sora.”

“Whaaaaa?!” Demyx exclaimed, genuinely surprised to hear this. However, before he could ask any of his many newfound questions, a corridor of darkness suddenly materialized, allowing a fourth member to join in on the engaging conversation.

“Ah, so the whispers I’ve heard among the higher rungs are indeed true then…” Luxord mused with a knowing grin as he offered the others a small nod of greeting.

“You’re in again too?” Larxene spoke up before the gambler of fate could continue. “What is this, Organization Rehash?”

“I happen to play an important role, even despite my rather recent revival,” Luxord assured. “Unlike some… others, perhaps.”

“So you were listening this whole time?” Demyx asked as he strummed a low note on his sitar. “So not cool.”

The gambler of fate chuckled. “One must hold one’s cards as long as necessary,” he said, conjuring up a deck in his hand to playfully flip about. “Even so, the context you just provided me with… certainly does shuffle the deck in an interesting way. Now I believe I finally understand what I overheard from Xemnas when he said we haven’t lost our proposed thirteen vessel just yet…”

The three younger members exchanged a rather baffled glance at this before they looked back to Luxord once more, overwhelmed with curiosity to hear more about what he’d gleaned from the Organizations’ leaders. “What are you talking about?” Larxene asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Either we all heard what happened by now,” Marluxia added, the slightest hint of confusion in his otherwise usually collected tone. “Or we were all there to see it for ourselves. Xehanort’s attempt at forcing Sora to join our ranks were halted by none other than Axel. His plan, however complex and intricate as it might have been, was a failure.”

“Ah, or so it might have seemed at the time,” Luxord retorted, holding up a lone card as he flipped it over to show the rest. “But a single wild card is all it takes to turn an otherwise unsavory hand…” His smile widened as several more matching cards appeared in his hand to create a perfect full house. “Into a full set.”

“Wait, I’m still confused,” Demyx interjected.

“Why is that not surprising?” Larxene muttered, rolling her eyes.

The melodious nocturne ignored her, though even still he sent her a small glare before he spoke his piece. “So did this whole plan that Xehanort had for Sora that Marluxia was just talking about work out? Or… not?”

“That is of no concern to any of you right now.” The other four members swiftly spun around to find none other than Saïx approaching them, his expression as aloof and stoic as ever as he came to stand before the group.

“Ugh, Saïx,” Larxene groaned disdainfully. “Figures that you’d join up again. What, are you here to tell us to get back to doing our jobs or something?”

“Precisely,” the luna diviner replied without missing a beat as he passed through the group. “If the four of you are done wasting your time on aimless gossip, then there are much more important matters to attend to. Master Xehanort has requested that all of us gather in the Round Room to receive our next assignment.”

“Y-you mean… Xehanort’s still here?” Demyx asked apprehensively, gripping his sitar a bit tighter at the mention of the master’s name.

“I thought the old coot left after his plan to ‘recruit’ the Keybrat supposedly fell through,” Larxene added, crossing her arms.

“The master still has business in this world,” Saïx explained, glancing over his shoulder at the group. “And so long as he does, then it is his intention to remain here to see that business carried out. Considering what his intentions are, you would all be wise to listen well to what he has to say.”

Without another word, Saïx disappeared into a dark corridor himself, likely heading off to the very meeting he had just told the group still gathered in the hall about. A bout of silence passed between them as they exchange a dubious glance, none of them quite sure what the master’s specific “intentions” were to begin with. In fact, the only thing they really knew was that the sole reason any of them had been brought back into existence was to aid in exacting those mysterious ambitions, whatever they might end up being.

“It seems as though another game is about to begin,” Luxord spoke up first, summoning a dark portal as he took his leave. “We might as well go learn what the rules are this time, hm?”

“Or better yet, learn how to bend those rules to our advantage,” Marluxia remarked, offering Larxene a small, knowing grin as he left in a similar manner.

“So… I guess everything’s same old, same old, then?” Demyx asked the savage nymph with an irresolute shrug.

“Oh, shut up already,” Larxene hissed as she also took her leave, leaving the melodious nocturne behind to do the same.

“H-hey! Wait up!” Demyx exclaimed, quickly summoning a corridor of darkness for himself. And with that, the entire group was gone, off to join the rest of their number and learn whatever it was their master had in store for them all.

Perched upon the highest, most paramount chair of the Round Room, Master Xehanort sat, watching coolly and quietly as the various members teleported in to take their respective seats. Each one of them bore a fragment of his own heart and his essence, of that much he had personally made certain, even among the members that weren’t already some sort of extension of himself. Even so, the elderly master had brought each of these figures back into existence for a reason, a purpose that would not only ensure the clash of light and darkness that he had been seeking for countless years now. But also, a purpose that would also deliver the ultimate prize that awaited on the other side of that clash into his hands once and for all.

One by one, the spotless thrones were filled, some of the members faces’ concealed by their pitch black hoods, others not. None of them spoke to each other out of either respect or fear for their master’s presence, but a few of them did exchange brief, fruitive nods of greeting here and there. By the time all of the members had arrived, all but one of the seats had been filled, the lone empty one being the shortest throne sitting directly across from Xehanort himself. The elderly master’s already steady grin deepened as he kept his sights on that empty throne, knowing that it would be filled soon enough. But as the master had already figured out, that would have to wait; in the meantime, he had another initiative to get off the ground instead.

“Greetings, my Seekers of Darkness,” Xehanort began, garnishing the attention of the entire group from his elevated throne. “It is fortunate that we have all managed to congregate here again so soon. Listen well, all of you, for there is much that we must discuss.” The master paused, almost as if to make sure every single member present was doing just that before he continued. “Firstly, let it be known that the clash of light and darkness that we ever strive towards is soon at hand. Already, the guardians of light are scrambling, rushing themselves to gather allies to their side, no matter how weak and unexperienced those allies might be. They are well aware that our own ranks are nearly completed, and indeed, we are close. There is but only one final vessel we must obtain, but fret not; that vessel is already starting to make the slow but certain fall into our hands. Our missing darkness will belong to us before they even know it.”

“Oh really?” Xigbar spoke up almost knowingly from his own seat. “And just who might this so-called ‘missing darkness’ be, huh?” Likewise, upon hearing mention of this apparently unknown thirteenth vessel, Larxene, Marluxia, Demyx, and Luxord all focused on Xehanort with the same sort of scrutiny, each of them curious to know if the rumors they had shared amongst each other could actually bear some weight after all.

The elderly master simply smirked at this, shaking his head as if to bar the more eager members of his Organization from knowing. “The answer to that will be revealed in due time,” he said mysteriously, sending side glances over at his younger self, Xemnas, and Ansem in particular. The trio said nothing but nodded, almost as if they were communicating something to the master, even if no one else was in on the tip. “But rest assured that we will indeed have all thirteen members on our side, perhaps even a few in reserve, just in case any of you fall short of my expectations…” A handful of the members seemed to fill the almost palpable chill in Xehanort’s tone as he said this, his smile finally gone as he glanced over each of them piercingly. “Which is something that each of you should pray does not happen… I’ve given almost each of you a second chance at existence. Use it well and do not disappoint me…”

If any of the lower-ranking members of the new Organization had any sort of doubts about the kind of stern authority their master wielded, those doubts were soon laid to rest the moment he summoned his Keyblade to his side as a show of exactly that. The fierce, dark weapon radiated immense power, power that some of them feared while others among them craved it. There was no question that it demanded respect, and it was clear that respect was what Xehanort demanded of each of them. And for the most part, that respected was what most of the members decided, for varying purposes and reasons, that they were going to pay him. For now at least.

“Each of you,” Xehanort continued, holding his Keyblade out level. “Take a look at this Keyblade. This weapon, and every other one like it in existence, are mere replicas, rendered after the most powerful key in existence, the one true X-Blade! It is a blade that I brazenly, foolishly even, tried to get my hands on years ago, all without realizing that it is merely a single key needed among several others to unlock the ultimate power that lies behind the essence of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!”

A few soft, muted gasps rose up from some of the younger members who weren’t previously privy to the master’s plan, though in hindsight it did add up. Kingdom Hearts had always been the ultimate goal of the old Organization; it only made sense that the newest iteration of the group would be working towards its untold power as well. Which was why all ears were still on Xehanort’s bold words as he continued with the intent of detailing exactly how they were going to do just that.

“As mighty as the X-Blade itself is, it alone is not enough to bestow control of the heart of all worlds onto any one individual,” the master explained as his Keyblade disappeared. “To truly claim complete control over Kingdom Hearts, at least according to ancient legends previously lost to the ages, one must gather and unite thirteen divine Keyblades, all forged by the very Kingdom they possess the ability to unlock. And… whoever holds them all is destined to be its ruler undisputed, with every shred of power it has to offer at their disposal, now until the end of time itself.”

“The ruler…” Saïx spoke up first, breaking through the small bout of silence that permeated the room after this prophecy was delivered to the all. “Of Kingdom Hearts…”

“Well, well!” Xigbar spoke up with an intrigued grin upon hearing this. “Now we’re thinkin’ really big here, aren’t we, old man? I’d say it’s about time!”

“So I suppose your intention is to have each of us go out and collect these thirteen Keys for your purposed regime then,” Marluxia inferred, feigning boredom. “Correct?”

“To an extent…” Xehanort grinned knowingly. “The Keys to the Kingdom, as they are called, are scattered far and wide across the worlds. No one knows exactly where they are hidden, but it is foretold that finding even just one will lead to the location of the next and so on and so forth. It is for that purpose that I am indeed sending each of you out amongst that worlds to search for the Keys and bring them back to me. Do this for me, and I can guarantee: each and every single one of you will have an equal share in our conquest when Kingdom Hearts finally, finally belongs to us!”

Out of any other group, this rallying promise might have elicited an excited cheer; but instead, the members of the new Organization simply nodded in solid, mostly unanimous agreement with their master’s plan. After all, the power and potential of Kingdom Hearts was beyond comprehension, said to be able to do just about anything and everything imaginable. Regardless of whatever Xehanort wanted that incredibly power for, more than a few members already had their own ideas in mind for what they’d use even a fraction of it. Ideas that, as far as most of them were concerned, were more than worth the effort it would take to track the Keys to the Kingdom down and bring them back to Xehanort so he could pull it all together for them.

“I am certain that the guardians of light will soon be made aware of the prophecy of the Keys, if they’re not already,” the master continued. “But even if they do intend to search for them, they shall be far outnumbered. Scatter yourselves among the worlds and do whatever you must to secure those Keys for the darkness. And as I said before…” Xehanort glowered down at his members warningly, barely even needing to remind them just what was at stake if they failed to do as he said. “Be aware of the price for disappointing me. Inasmuch as I brought each of you back, I can just as easily take all that I have returned to you away again. And so, with that in mind… go! Go and bring forth both the Keys and the Kingdom for us all!”

On this stern command, most of the Organization members readily complied, not hesitating to disappear into dark portals so they could prepare to set out to do just that. The master watched with a satisfied smile as they all departed, including his own Heartless, Nobody, and younger self, each heading off on their own with their primary mission clear. However, only a handful of them currently knew of the other prize they were seeking, one that they could only just keep a close eye on from afar for now. Though Xehanort was certain that, with enough time, perception, and patience on his part, then all the pieces would soon fall perfectly into place, just as they did once before.

“‘Go and bring forth the Keys and the Kingdom for us all’, huh? Good one. I gotta admit, you nearly had me going right along with everyone else with that. And maybe I might have if I was even half as stupid as any of them are.”

The elderly master’s lingering grin faded somewhat as he raised an eyebrow down at the only remaining member in the room sitting several seats away from him. “I do believe I just issued an absolute order to everyone present,” Xehanort said coldly. “Which means you are free to go as well, Vanitas.”

The masked boy scoffed as he leaned back in his chair a bit, making no apparent effort to depart whatsoever. “Like I just said, I would have left right along with the rest of them,” he began bluntly. "If I hadn’t already caught onto exactly what kind of game you’re playing at, old man.”

“And what ‘game’ might that be?” Xehanort asked almost boredly as he rolled his eyes.

“You and I both know that you don’t have any plans of sharing Kingdom Hearts if you really do end up getting your hands on it,” Vanitas pointed out plainly. “A prize like that is far too enticing to just split up like that, especially for someone like you whose been after it for so long. I don’t know how you managed to get all those idiots to believe you, but believe me when I say that you’re not fooling me.”

Xehanort initially said nothing to this, instead simply sending the masked boy a rather piercing look of disapproval before ultimately deciding to pass his brazenness off as mere hyperbole. “So I suppose you find yourself quite clever for figuring that out, don’t you?” he asked, his confident smirk returning only slightly. “No matter. The other seekers shall still go and search out the Keys to the Kingdom all the same. And in the same way, so too shall you fulfill your purpose, Vanitas, by locating Ventus, joining your heart together with his, and finally forging the X-Blade for your master. And this time you will not fail me as you did last time. Do you understand?”

Vanitas didn’t respond, instead opting to glance away from his master as he crossed his arms stoically. Xehanort’s already somewhat impatient scowl deepened at this at this impertinence as he repeated himself much more firmly this time. “I said do you understa-”

“Understand? Yes,” Vanitas interupted, the bitter sarcasm in his tone excruciatingly clear. “Care? No.” With that, the masked boy leapt down from his seat with the apparent intention of leaving. “You really think that grand scheme of yours is actually gonna work this time? Face it, old man, you couldn’t get Kingdom Hearts to be yours back then, Ansem couldn’t get it to be his, and neither could Xemnas. You’re all exactly the same, in every way imaginable. Just a bunch of blind, ego-driven men stuck on the same stupid plan that never seems to work! Which is why I’m surprised I’m the only one who’s tired of waiting on you to deliver on something you’ll never be able to obtain, even with the X-Blade, even with the Keys, even with all the other pawns you think you have set up so nicely to help you in what’s ultimately gonna be just another losing battle. So forget it; I’m done.” Without even sparing Xehanort another single word, Vanitas turned to make his succinct and sour exit, though before he could make much of an attempt to summon a dark corridor, his leave was expectedly interupted by the master himself.

Vanitas deftly leapt out of the path of a powerful burst of darkness, one that came from Xehanort’s hand as the master stood atop his high throne, glaring icily down at the masked boy below him. “I’m afraid you don’t have the option of being ‘done’,” he remarked, his Keyblade easily appearing in his hand. In an instant, the master sped down from his elevated perch with frightening speed, his blade poised for attack. Vanitas only had mere seconds to summon his own Keyblade so that he could properly block Xehanort’s brutal swing, but even so, it still pushed him back across the room’s central platform by several feet all the same.

“So…” the masked boy began, somewhat breathless from the surprise of the attack as he repositioned himself to properly square off against his master. “We’re back to this again, huh?”

“I’ve found that it always was the best way to get either you or Ventus to behave,” Xehanort mused calmly as darkness began to swirl around his Keyblade.

“Hmph, like that straight-edged loser even has a rebellious bone in his body,” the masked boy deadpanned haughtily as he referred to his other half. Acting on adrenaline alone, he rushed forward, Keyblade at the ready before he sent its edge swinging hard at his mister. Xehanort countered the strike easily, kicking Vanitas back once more before rushing in for yet another barrage of unforgiving attacks. The masked boy only barely blocked most of them, though a few of them landed hard and painfully, even if they still weren’t quite enough to completely wear him down. Still, despite his age, Xehanort was stilled and strong, his abilities with his Keyblade far surpassing Vanitas’ own, however formidable that might have been. He well knew from experience that he’d only be able to hold his own in a struggle like this up against his master for so long and it was quickly becoming apparent that this fight would be no exception.

After lashing out with another merciless swing, Xehanort decided to keep his Keyblade pressed tightly against Vanitas’, knowing that the friction would inevitably wear the masked boy down, as much as he tried to push back against it. “You realize just as much as I do that this bout of petty rebellion is absolutely meaningless, do you not?” the master asked, glaring down at his apprentice harshly. “If you do not pursue Ventus and join again with him to form the X-Blade, then you will forever remain an incomplete, empty being of nothing more than directionless darkness. Act as impertinent as you’d like, but you cannot deny that I am the only one who can help you become whole again.”

Put off by such an arrogant assumption, Vanitas shoved his Keyblade back hard, surprising even Xehanort, but still not enough for him to relinquish his steady hold. “Its amazing how someone who claims to know so much can be so wrong about so many things,” the masked boy remarked bitingly. “I don’t need you to find Ventus. I never needed you. Face it, old man: if you really want that X-Blade, then you’re the one who needs me.”

That final bold statement was easily enough to set Xehanort off even more than he already was, an impressive feat to be sure. In his tranquil rage, the master brought his Keyblade down in a sudden, calculated swing, one that the masked boy was unable to properly deflect this time. Vanitas was thrown back once more by the incredible force of the attack, to the point that he barely even noticed the small, but sizable crack that had started to form across his mask as the result of it. Somehow, its glass surface didn’t break, but all the same, Xehanort showed no signs of letting up anytime soon.

“Perhaps you did not hear what I told the others,” the master said darkly, standing over his injured apprentice threateningly. “I restored you to your pitiful existence, even after the disappointment you proved to be years ago. But it’d be just as easy for me to take you out once again and replace you with much more… suitable candidates.” At this, Xehanort rose his Keyblade, hovering it over Vanitas with the intent of bringing it down in a devastating blow in a moment’s notice if he didn’t get his way. “Which is why I will only tell you this one final time: you will forge the X-Blade for me or you will face obliteration once more. And this time, I will not be as merciful as to give you another chance again. It’s your choice.”

Initially, it seemed as though Vanitas was actually going to comply with his master’s demands as he said nothing, simply hanging his head in what almost looked like begrudging acceptance. That is, until he managed to pull off the only trick he had up his sleeve that could actually work to put some distance between himself and Xehanort’s deadly Keyblade. An immense pall of darkness surged around the masked boy and from that darkness, a swarm of creatures, both big and small, though all composed of the same shadowy malice, emerged: the Unversed.

The massive wave of monsters was more than enough to push Xehanort back, finally giving Vanitas enough time to pick himself up and leap out of the fray. Of course, the master made quick work of the rampaging Unversed, but by then, his apprentice had already safely distanced himself by leaping onto one of the higher chairs and summoning a dark corridor to make a hasty retreat.

“Oh, believe me, I am going to forge the X-Blade,” Vanitas assured, his tone icy as he turned to face his now-former master one last time. “But when I do, I can guarantee that you’ll be the last person to ever get your hands on it, ‘Master’…” And, without bothering to spare another word on Xehanort, the masked boy disappeared into the darkness, ready to act on his own ambitions for a change instead of those of his faltering, vindictive master.

“Hmph,” Xehanort scoffed to himself, still standing in the center of the Round Room as his Keyblade disappeared. “Insolent whelp. No matter…” The master was quick to teleport back to his usual elevated seat, his contented, calculated grin returning as he thought back to his steadily-developing plans. “He cannot stop what is destined to transpire. The Keys, the Kingdom, and of course, the thirteenth vessel shall all soon fall into my hands, one by one.” Xehanort’s smirk widened as he set his sights on the lowest-bearing seat across from him, still as empty as it had been before, though he could already sense that it wouldn’t remain that way for long. “Isn’t that right… Sora?”

Next:

[feelingfredly]

The Fox Guards the Wolf

Part Two

Rats and Snakes

Faint shadows striped the floor, pink tinged from the neon moonlight of the Tokyo night, and Okura Kagetaka’s shoulders relaxed as he crossed the threshold to his private sanctuary.

It had been a good day. His sensei would have been proud. Now all he wanted was a bath and sleep.

He was halfway to his dressing room, pulling at his tie, when his phone rang. It was business.

It was always business.

“Shachō- no-Okura.”

There was a pause on the line and Kagetaka frowned at being made to wait.

“Okura-dono,” the man finally spoke. “Chiaki Haru speaking. I apologize for bothering you, especially so late, but you indicated that you wanted updates concerning the situation with Urahara Kisuke-san as soon as we heard anything.”

The frown faded. Progress. Good.

“Hai.”

He could hear papers rustling in the background. “As you directed, Suzuki Touma-san and Kondo Sora-san were dispatched this afternoon with orders to bring Urahara Kisuke-san, willingly or not, to the research facility. The driver followed them after drop off and they made two stops, one at the convenience store east of Yoyogi Park, and from there they traveled straight to a coffee shop near Tokai University Hospital.”

Kagetaka nodded. It made sense. Shibuya was Urahara’s style. Crowds and chaos. Easy to hide in. Easy to hunt in.

“And Urahara-san?”

“As they stated, they were in possession of reliable information on his location. Ten minutes after entering the coffee shop, they left again following Urahara Kisuke-san. Their information, though, apparently did not extend to his companion. They were,” the man on the phone sounded strangled, “summarily disarmed and bundled into a car under guard. We don’t know where they were taken, as of yet.”

Kagetaka felt his stomach tighten.

“Companion? You mean Tsukabishi Tessai-san?”

Another pause. “No, Shachō. Tsukabishi-san was driving the car which took the men away, but there was another with Urahara-san in the café. It was a younger man with bright orange hair. He disarmed Suzuki-san while Urahara-san faced Kondo-san. He then reportedly gave medical attention to Kondo-san before allowing them to be removed from the scene. We are currently trying to identify him.”

Of course Kondo would need medical attention. Urahara was no fool. An attacker that could rejoin a fight would be a wasted first move. The fact that Suzuki didn’t need medical attention was the surprise.

“Did the unknown man leave the scene with the others?”

“No, Shachō. He left on foot after the others drove away.”

“Where did he go?”

Yet another extended pause. Unacceptable. Kagetaka needed to remind his people that his time was not to be wasted.

“I am sorry, Shachō. He was not followed. Since his orders were to track Urahara Kisuke-san, the driver chose to follow him instead of his companion. By the time he called in, the companion had disappeared.”

Kagetaka gritted his teeth.

“Does this mean that Urahara has been brought to the research facility as directed?”

He knew the answer. If he’d been taken, the idiot on the phone would have led with that information. Since he didn’t, failure was a given.

“No, Shachō. Again I apologize. The driver lost his target after he? crossed into Shinjuku. He has been… reprimanded.”

The Yakuza used to take fingers for failures, weakening their sword grips and making its members more dependent on their teammates. Too much of it had turned it into common knowledge, and it became easy for the police to use it to identify their members. Reprimands within the Okura keiretsu were less visible, but just as permanent.

The driver would not be failing him again.

He took a deep breath. Kondo and Suzuki being taken had been part of the plan. Urahara was infinitely more skilled than they were, regardless of what kind of firepower they were carrying. The point had been to get them in his sights, and in that the mission had succeeded. The fact that they were not actually his men was a bonus. Mamushi-san had rolled the dice when he embedded spies in the Okura organization. Kagetaka’d given them a chance at a valuable target. If they weren’t able to fulfill their orders, no one could question their disappearance, and there would be no suspicion to fall on him.

Tracking Urahara had been a higher priority, but success was still not expected. The fact that there was a new player on the scene was a much more disturbing development. That mystery would have to be solved and quickly. If Urahara-sensei had taken another under his wing after all this time, then the game had changed drastically.

“Shachō?”

Kagetaka shook himself from his reverie and peeled off his jacket before throwing it into the laundry. He would arrange for two teams to set up surveillance of the coffee shop tomorrow, but it needed to be handled discreetly. He didn’t want another of Mamushi’s men to figure out how important the redhead might be.

“Yes. That will be all Chiaki-san. Please keep me informed if anything new comes to light.”

“Yes, Shachō. Good night.”

Kagetaka disconnected and plugged the phone in to charge on the shelf in his dressing area. Everything was in motion. Now he had to be patient.

Urahara Kisuke would pay for his lack of foresight.

It had taken him nearly a decade to build the keiretsu after Urahara turned him away. The bodies he had buried in the process were the very foundation of its strength. The fear he’d instilled in the hearts of his opponents was necessary for its continuing success. Power equaled respect both on the street and in the boardroom, and he had no romantic ideals concerning the right and wrong of it.

Unlike his sensei.

He reached in to pull two towels off the shelf, and noticed a flicker of movement before a burning sensation erupted on the back of his hand. A snake.

A mamushi.

“Ah, Okura-kun, I see you found my companion.” The voice was unmistakable.

Urahara. How?

Kagetaka dropped the towels and took a step back, his mind racing. “Konbanwa, Urahara-sensei.” He stepped away from the shelf where the snake had been hidden and backed into the bedroom. “I didn’t realize you were visiting this evening. I apologize for the rudeness of your reception. If I’d been able to prepare, I would have given you the recognition you deserve.”

A shadow separated itself from the wall in the corner, and moved silently into the dim slashes of light from the windows.

“You are too kind, Okura-kun. I haven’t been your teacher for years.” The shadow stopped moving. “I know how busy you are these days. I would never want you to put yourself out on my account. I hate to be a bother.”

You’d hate for someone to be prepared for you, you mean, old man.

Kagetaka moved to the table beside the bed and picked up a discarded hair tie. He’d never make it to his phone, and he hadn’t been able to see where the snake ended up. He’d just have to hope there were no other surprises hidden in the room and wait Urahara out. He slipped the tie around his wrist and pulled it tight.

“You are never a bother, Urahara-sensei, and we both know you never stopped teaching me. Why even now, I’m certain you have a lesson in mind.”

Urahara took one more step into the room, and a band of light fell on his face. He looked the same, shaggy blond hair, gray eyes, and a foolish smile that hid a razor-sharp intellect. He wore black, but looked more modern day hipster than ninja.  The hakama he wore in the dojo would stand out too much, Kagetaka supposed.

“You honor me, Okura-kun.” A mocking little bow. “A humble servant like myself could only hope to be able to provide wisdom to the head of the impressive Okura keiretsu.”

His hand burned. The snake had bitten his little finger and he could feel it beginning to swell.

“Oh my,” Urahara tilted his head and looked at the injury. “That isn’t good. You should probably get it looked at. It seems the mamushi doesn’t care for your attentions. Especially since he was simply minding his own business.” Urahara gave that little silly smile again, the one Kagetaka dreamed of smacking off his face, and shrugged but his voice held an edge. “I can sympathize. Sometimes one has to protect ones privacy, even when the attention comes from one as august as the head of the Okura keiretsu.”

Kagetaka was beginning to sweat, and little dots were obscuring his vision. He blinked rapidly to try to clear them, but no luck.

“It’s fascinating, don’t you think?”

“What is?” Kagetaka asked. Urahara kept smiling. “Mamushi venom has so many different qualities. It can cause red blood cells to rupture. Trigger swelling. Necrolysis. It can even cause a victim to lose their vision.”

Urahara stepped a fraction closer.

“You would never lose your vision, though, would you Okura-kun. No. Once you set your sights on something, it would take something radical, maybe even life-threatening, to make you change your mind.”

Kagetaka laughed shortly, pulling the hair tie even tighter around his wrist. “Sounds to me like you’re describing yourself, Sensei. I’ve never known a more single-minded man.”

Pale hands spread in a gesture of acceptance. “I admit, I can be rather focused at times. It is both a blessing and a curse. I’m sure you understand.”

Kagetaka inclined his head a fraction. “I do.”

“I am a bit surprised at our cold-blooded acquaintance’s behavior, though.” The bland tone was back. “I thought he would be friendlier. I mean, since his master is a friend of yours.”

The burning was worse, but Kagetaka kept his voice even, his attention piqued.

“His master?”

“Of course, Okura-kun. I mean, I recently spoke to two who claimed to belong to you both, so I assumed you must have some sort of relationship. It is too bad, though, that none of Mamushi-san’s pets seem to recognize you as a friend.”

“I do hope Mamushi-san doesn’t mind that I brought this pet to you. You brought his other pets to me; it seemed only appropriate.”

Kagetaka’s eyes flew to his old master’s. He knew. The bastard knew.

“Plus, I knew you would be able to provide for him. The snake’s favorite is rat, you know. And Tokyo is full of rats. Even in the nicest places.”

Embarrassment and anger made Kagetaka’s cheeks burn. Or maybe that was the snake bite, he couldn’t tell.

Urahara was watching him closely. Probably timing the venom. Ever the scientist. Ever the bastard.

“I did learn one interesting thing from the two men you sent me,” he said brightly. “Did you know that the new treatment for mamushi bite includes something called relaxation incisions to the affected body parts? It is terribly clever. They slice open seams along the skin to release tension from the swelling. That way the injured parts won’t rot and die from not getting enough blood, and it allows them to release the poison trapped in them. It means weeks of healing, but it’s better than dying from the inside out, don’t you think?”

Sensei had always told him he held grudges and anger too close to his heart, that they would poison him if he let them. Now the old fool was lecturing him again, even if his method had become more dramatic.

“It really is too bad you’re right handed. Any treatment is going to seriously hamper your ability to hold things. Pens. Brushes. Swords. Guns.” There was a pregnant pause, and then an inane laugh. “It will wreak havoc on your golf game, as well. Maybe Mamushi-san will finally be able to challenge you and beat you fair and square. You know he thrives on competition. The country club will never be the same.”

Fool. Kagetaka thought. He’d been such a fool. He shouldn’t have tried to play both ends against the middle. Urahara was a target that required his whole focus, and by trying to kill two birds with one stone, he had only opened himself up to twice the danger. Luckily, his sensei was still too sentimental. Otherwise he’d have been dead already.

Kagetaka swayed, struggling to keep himself upright.

“I apologize, Sensei, as enjoyable as it has been seeing you again, perhaps you will excuse me. It has been a long day, and I find that I still have a few things I must tend to before I can close the books for the day.”

“Of course, Okura-kun,” Urahara said, sketching a bow. “You do look a little worse for wear, if you don’t mind my saying so. You should really be more careful.”

There was a long pause, and his sensei finally showed his true face. Gray eyes stared coldly at him, even flatter than those of the snake in his dressing room, and Kagetaka swallowed thickly.

“Next time you won’t be so lucky.”

The floor rushed up to greet him, and then there was darkness. In the distance he heard a phone dialing and a cheerful voice.

“Ah, hello Chiaki Haru-san. Your master has had a little accident. Perhaps you’d be so kind as to send the physician up to his quarters. The door is unlocked.”