1A.N. Well… here it is! First chapter of the rewrite! Instead of starting after KH3, this begins right as it begins. Several elements have been reworked, hopefully for the better. And I hope you'll enjoy this.
I'd like to apologize for how long this took. I decided to wait for Shadowbringers and when it came out, I outright had to rewrite certain parts. I then went back and fixed a few more things up again.
Palace of the Dead - Floor 200
Four adventurers touched down on the final floor of what had become known as the Palace of the Dead. An ever-changing labyrinth with an enchantment that stripped away all strength upon entering. Only those with the Aetherpool equipment granted by a child-like horned race of humans called the Padjal could even hope to survive.
"Everyone alright?" The first one called out. He was clothed mostly in red. A red feathered hat to cover his brown hair, a red duelist's tabard, even red boots. The only parts of his attire that weren't red were his white pants and black leather gloves. Clipped to his side was a rapier and a gem.
"Yeah. Iri, can you send a Benefic my way? My shield arm is still numb from where that Keeper hit it," the second one said. In its sheath was a sword and on his back was a shield. Covering the majority of his body was heavy armor, leaving his head exposed with a gold crown on it. Coming out of the back of the armor was a bushy, brown tail and on the top of his head were two brown cat ears.
The third adventurer shot him a glare. On the side of her white-haired head were curved horns, starting from where her ears would be and curving to the back of her head. Her robes were dark purple with constellations on them and on her head rested a similarly coloured and designed hat. On her back was a strange metallic contraption and clipped to her side was a strange sheath.
"It wouldn't be if you hadn't attempted to take it on as we were going to the exit!" She shouted at him.
"If I hadn't fought it then, it would've ambushed us!" He retorted.
Meanwhile, the first adventurer was moving over to the last one to touch down, "Do you wanna break them up, or should I?"
"I got this one," she said. On her blue-haired and blue-eared head, cat ears mind you, she had a black steeple hat. A small bandanna blocked off her mouth and her left eye and she had black robes on. On her back, slightly over her blue furred tail, she had a long staff. She strode over to the two arguing adventurers and immediately pressed their heads together. As she backed up to her chuckling comrade, she grinned at the wide eyes of the two, now kissing, adventurers.
"I mean, you always say kiss and make up. So you're now forcing that?" The first one asked.
"It works. Sometimes," she replied, "Come on. We're close to the exit now."
As she walked on to the last platform, the first adventurer shook his head, "What am I gonna do with you, R'idill?"
As the adventurers approached the exit of the Palace, they saw a red orb on a pedestal, not the boss they had been expecting.
"That's it?" The armored individual said, "That's what we risked life and limb for?"
"Apparently. Let's grab it." The red individual said, moving towards it. As he pulled it from the stand, he looked closer at its resting place, "That… looks like a keyhole. Why is there a keyhole on here?"
All of them staggered a bit as a sudden tremor shook the floor. As they regained their footing, the first adventurer looked up towards the ceiling. He pointed at a crack forming and drew his rapier with his right hand, the gem hovering above his left hand. All the other adventurers followed suit. A similar tremor occurred and after a third one, the crack exploded into a vortex of dark creatures flying through the air.
"What… what are those?" The armored individual shouted, swinging his sword and cleaving one that got too close in half.
"Don't know. The boss monsters?" The red individual called out.
"Not likely, they aren't focused on us," Iri said, unfolding the object on her back into a globe and sending bursts of starry energy at the horde, causing a few of them to burst into black smoke.
"Then where are they… Look out!" R'idill shouted, tackling the red individual as the swarm charged at him. Unfortunately, they were not aiming at him. The vortex itself funneled into the keyhole and the tremors grew even more fierce.
"What… just happened?" Iri asked, casting a quick spell to heal the group up.
"I don't know… Thanks R'idill," The red individual said, getting to his feet and pulling R'idill up, "We should get out of here. Where's that exit?"
"It just vanished. The second those things entered that keyhole, the exit vanished," The armored individual said, wobbling as another tremor hit.
In a flash, the keyhole turned completely black as dark magic started flying out of it. In seconds, the room had been covered. In a few minutes, it had spread to the Gridanian region. In ten minutes, the world itself was covered. And then, it shattered. The world broke apart, fragments of the Mothercrystal that sustained it flying into the dark unknown.
[hr]
?
A red gloved hand twitched as the adventurer came to. His hand scraping across paved stone as he pulled himself up, putting his hat back on in the process.
"Where… am I?" He wondered aloud, taking in his new location. Around him was a city, the architecture not unlike the Dravanian Hinterlands. But the skies were darkened with clouds and fireballs rained down upon the city. Something was very clearly attacking. As he turned his attention around the path he found himself in, it was somewhat like a garden with a small gazebo, he heard cries further down.
"Help! Somebody!"
Almost without any heed for his own safety, he hurried down the path, drawing his rapier in the process
As he approached the area, he saw a woman up on top of a pillar staring down at the beings at the base. They looked somewhat similar to those black creatures in the Palace. But where they were small. These things were slightly bigger with flames coming out of their head. With a flourish, a burst of red magic slammed into one, and a gust of wind blew another away. Waving his arms, six ethereal swords appeared and impaled another, and a further six swords appeared as he stabbed his rapier into the ground, stepped up, and flipped off it. With that motion, they flew through the air and plunged into the ground around the remaining enemies, obliterating them as he pulled his sword out of the ground.
As the last of the flaming enemies vanished, he heard footsteps from the steps he'd arrived from and saw a brown haired boy wielding a… Was that a giant key?! Followed by a giant dog and a duck. He'd have stood there dumbfounded for awhile more, had more enemies not warped in from bursts of darkness. As he turned and saw them, looking similar to the ones from the Palace but with a helmet on their head and more vicious looking claws, he sighed and turned his rapier back to them.
"Did someone spike my last meal?" He wondered, before hitting one of the new enemies with a tether and using it to pull himself to it and impale it.
[hr]
?
As R'idill woke up, her own hands scraped against dirt and grass. Opening her eyes she saw a forest around her, leading her to think she was back in the Black Shroud of Gridania. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Looking off in the distance, she saw a mansion. A brighter looking one than Haukke Manor, but in a bit more disrepair. As she reached down and picked up her own hat, she heard voices coming from behind her, voices that abruptly stopped when they came into view.
When she turned, she saw three people. Kids, really. There was a chubby boy with black hair, a headband and red shirt, with a very friendly smile. A lankier, blond haired boy with a vest on. And a brunette girl who had a strange, at least in R'idill's eyes, set of leggings on.
"Um… who are you?" The chubby boy asked.
R'idill tilted her head a bit, before giving her name. As she did so, a rustling drew her attention to the trees above. One did not get to be one of the greater adventurers in the Source without having a healthy sense of caution and paranoia.
"It's probably a squirrel," The lanky boy said, "I'm Hayner, this is Pence, and Olette." He said, motioning to each kid as he introduced them.
"Did you come here to investigate the mansion as well?" Pence asked. R'idill looked over her shoulder and shook her head.
"Where is this place?" She muttered under her breath. The three kids looked a bit shocked at hearing this but then Pence smiled a bit.
"Ohhh, You're like Sora aren't you?" he asked, getting a confused look for his troubles, "He's from another world too."
"Another… world? Yes, it would have to be that wouldn't it. Looks a bit too different from the Source to be a reflection and if it was one, there'd be an Ascian meddling here most likely." The last sentence was spoken under her breath. As she looked back at the kids, she got an idea, "What sort of things have been happening at that mansion?"
"Well, in the basement, there's this computer that belonged to a guy called Ansem the Wise. We found some interesting stuff on it but we couldn't finish looking at it. We were heading back to learn more." Pence said, as Hayner commented in the background, "Yeah, and you dragged us along too."
"It sounds like you're close friends," R'idill said, with a smile behind her impromptu face mask. Another sound drew her attention as the rustling returned, dropping blue monkeys with this strange mark on their chests down onto the branches of the trees. As they did so, a large thing appeared on the ground. The same mark was on its chest, it had a very unfitting helmet on its head and its body looked able to repel most physical attacks from the front. Arms could probably hurt as well. And all the enemies had glowing yellow eyes. She could outright see the malice in the monkey's eyes.
R'idill sighed as she unlimbered the staff from her back and motioned the kids to get behind her. The kids, to their credit, did not question this, and did as she bid.
As the eldritch magic charged on her staff, they heard her mutter, "Never can catch a break, can I?"
[hr]
"Now… I realize this is a bad look. But I swear, I don't know how I got here. I don't mean any harm. I'd really like to just get off this boat." G'dhap was not having a good day at all. His world vanished right before his eyes, he woke up on this strange boat… What was the third thing? Oh yes, a bunch of men and women were now pointing swords at him!
"Aye! You've said that about three times already!" Their supposed captain replied, with a grin on his face, "Matters not how you got here, unless ye can swim, yer not gonna be getting to shore for a while. Best just to enjoy the ride."
G'dhap looked back at the captain. Frankly, he had a very nice hat on, with a feather in its cap. Had a nice beard too. He'd seem almost affable, if it weren't for the fact, the crew was still pointing swords at him and the captain hadn't called them off. One of them reached for the sword on his back only to stop when G'dhap sent an ice-chilling glare at him.
"If I'm gonna be stuck on this ship with you all, I might as well start learning your names. As for me, You can call me…" He paused, could they even pronounce his name? "Tia."
The crew paused looking around at each other. As the captain chuckled, several spouts of water erupted around the boat as strange green things appeared on the deck. They almost looked like strange divers, if it weren't for the fact that their helmets were open and you could see slanted yellow eyes peering around. As one made to attack a pirate with its spear, it got sent flying off the deck by a shield. As the crew turned back to see the shield land on G'dhap's hand, he took a look around.
"Well? Isn't this the part where you repel the boarders?" He asked. Two of the crew immediately set to work attacking with the rest following shortly after. The captain cackled gleefully as he pulled out a strange pistol and shot two of the divers off.
As G'dhap jumped back in the fray, pulling his sword out as well, he muttered "I just have all the luck don't I"
[hr]
World of Darkness - Dark Lake
Riku was sent flying back. He and Mickey had journeyed to the World of Darkness to find any clues in their search for Aqua, perhaps even the elusive woman herself! What they expected, and got, was a lot of Heartless, attacking them at each turn.
Once they reached the lake, they had found themselves beset by a tower of shadows, simply called a Demon Tower. While they were succeeding in weakening it, it eventually managed to regroup and send both of them flying back.
The Tower paused, seeming to size them up, then took a dive towards Mickey.
As Riku called out to him, a strange light enveloped the mouse and yanked him backwards. As he landed, another light engulfed him, healing his wounds. Riku looked to where the light was coming from and found himself shocked.
Standing there was an elegant woman in starry robes and hat, carrying what looked like a globe surrounded by cards and charging up another spell. Where her ears would have been, there were horns instead. Emerging from behind her was a white, scaled tail. And all over her body, even near her blond hair, were patches of white scales as well. With a flourish, the spell hit Riku and healed his own wounds as well.
"Stay cautious!" She yelled, drawing a card from the sheath on her hip and looking at it, "Whatever that thing is, it's preparing for another attack." Her piercing yellow eyes looked over Riku, and then she tossed the card at him. Almost instantly he felt a power boost. "Now go!" She yelled again, "I'll keep you and him healed!"
As Mickey rejoined the fray, both he and Riku charged as the woman starting throwing her own spells at the Tower, muttering "G'dhap better not be getting up to any trouble."
A.N. A cookie to those who get what each heartless, that wasn't explicitly named, was as well as the worlds each of the adventurers landed on. One of the things that needed rewriting was actually how some of the jobs performed, in particular, the Astrologian(cards). Originally, Lord of Crowns was a strict damage card. Now it just gives a damage boost. Actually… all the cards are just damage boosts now with more being given depending on the job and a different seal per card. Get three seals and you can divine more damage boosts for the party.
Anywho, I'm going to keep trying to write more, I just need to get the main classes used in this story up to 80 so I can at least understand what they are now capable of. Thank you for reading and I'll see you next time.