Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements

by Spirit Shift

CH31: Introductions

With a flash and a shimmer, several figures appeared in front of a large log cabin in the woods of the 22nd floor of Aincrad Castle. Once they appeared fully, the large orb in Kirito’s outstretched grip cracked and disappeared in a flurry of shimmering broken glass, similar to Pinkie’s ship earlier.

“Who are you?!” a scratchy female voice demanded. Kirito turned around to see a short multi-haired girl glaring up at him. “Where did you take us?”

Kirito tried to back up but the girl continued to advance on her. He didn’t know why but something about her, or more specifically her hair, seemed familiar. “I… uh…”

Suddenly, the short girl was yanked out from in front of him. He looked up to see her being held back by a tall blonde haired girl in a stetson. He briefly wondered if stetsons were even in this game. Even so, he still had his doubts if what they said was true. They could be NPCs like Yui.

“Girl, hold your horses. He went an’ saved us after all,” the blonde chided. She held girl by her jacket, keeping her lifted slightly above the ground.

The rainbow haired girl simply struggled in her, apparently tight, grip. “But what if he just saved us because he wants the ship for himself?” she argued.

“Well I—”

Suddenly, another girl appeared hanging over Kirito’s shoulder, causing him to flinch away from her in response. Her hair looked like springy cotton candy, and she smelled like cake for some reason. “Well he does look a little bit like a delinquent,” she said as she examined his black coat. “What with the black clothes and all.”

Kirito raised an eyebrow at that comment. “What’s wrong with—”

A fourth girl walked up to him and, likewise, examined his clothing choice. This one was tall and, he had to admit, rather attractive. She had stylishly combed purple hair and a scrutinizing set of blue eyes. “Well I can’t say that I’m a fan of his choice of wardrobe, but compared with what everyone else was wearing I like how it fits in, yet still stands out. That makes it unique in its own way. I approve," she smiled.

Kirito returned her smile, albeit hesitantly. He wasn’t exactly sure if he was being complimented. “Thank—”

“Well we still don’t know if he’s just another one of them!” declared the rainbow girl, pointing in his direction.

The final girl, the one with long straight dark-purple hair, rolled her eyes. “Well why don’t we ask him.” She took a step forward and the other girl moved out of the way. “I suppose we should introduce ourselves. Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She gestured to the other purple haired girl. “These are my friends, Rarity Belle,” towards the pink haired girl still standing behind him. “Pinkam— err sorry, Pinkie Pie, and—and finally towards the two girls standing the furthest away—Jackie Apple and Rachelle Dash. Before we ask any questions, what’s your name?”

Kirito smiled, finally glad to have made some progress and a chance to talk. “My name is—”

“Kirito!” Everyone turned and saw another flash near the front of the log cabin. Another girl appeared with a small child next to here. “Good thinking getting them out of there like that,” she said.

AJ smirked at Dash before finally releasing here. “See, he don’t mean any harm.”

Pinkie, meanwhile, squealed and rushed over to the little girl. She leaned down and threw her face in front of hers with a wide grin. “Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?”

The girl shied away slightly and glanced up at her mother who nodded. From what she saw from before this pink girl seemed harmless. The girl hesitantly stepped forward. “Hello, my name is Yui… a-are you really from the outside world?”

Pinkie took that as permission to sweep the young girl up in a large hug, oblivious to the mother instinctively reaching for her rapier. She was still a mother after all. “Oh you are soo cute,” giggled Pinkie. “Yeah that's right. We’re not from here.”

Yui smiled brightly. “So you really can rescue us?”

“I knew it! They do want our ship!” growled Dash, but before she could say anything further and gloved fist slammed on the top of her head. “Dammit, AJ! she groaned rubbing the lump that was sure to form on her scalp.

Kirito nervously scratched the back of his own. “Yeah, sorry but I don’t really believe that your ship could get us out of here,” he admitted to the shock of the girls around them.

“What makes you say that?” asked Twilight.

Kirito turned to face her. “Well how do we not know you guys aren't just NPCs?”

“En Pi whosiwhats?” asked Pinkie, tilting her head.

“Excuse me, darling, but exactly what are NPCs?” asked Rarity, having never heard an acronym like that before.

Kirito put a finger to his chin in thought. He glanced back to Yui and wondered if they just didn’t know they were NCPs. He could try to explain what they were, but their programming would probably deny it. Still, in his mind, it was worth a try. “NPC stands for non-player character. Basically, if you aren’t a human playing the game you’re an NPC.”

Everyone turned to Twilight in hopes that she understood. She mirrored his thoughtful expression. “So from what I can understand you’re saying that NPCs are nonhuman entities, even though they can look and act like them?” Kirito nodded. “So why do you think we’re NPCs?”

“Well for one, you all came here in a falling star. Secondly you claim to be from the outside but you don’t seem to know what’s happening.”

Rarity spoke up. “Well that’s because we are from the outside, darling.”

AJ flicked her hat up and out of her eyes. “An’ we don’t kno’ what’s goin’ on. But that don’t make us less human.”

Kirito raised his brow in confusion. What they were saying made no sense to him. Unless... “But how can you be from the outside and not know about Sword Art Online…he asked. “Or have we been forgotten after all,”

Pinkie, still nuzzling Yui, piped up from behind them. “Well duhh, we’re not from this world in the first place. So of course we wouldn’t know about… whatever it is we’re supposed to know.”

Both Kirito and Asuna were shocked at this revelation. Twilight was shocked as well, but for a completely different reason. “Wait, if outside doesn't mean another world to you then what do you all mean by outside?”

There was a brief but tense silence before Asuna walked up and stood next to Kirito. They shared a look before Asuna spoke up “I think we should go inside. I feel like we all have a lot of explaining to do.” After a moment of silent deliberation, the girls followed Asuna and Kirito into the log cabin.

~~~

Asuna first decided to make some tea for their guests while Pinkie went off to play with Yui and her toys upstairs. Kirito and the rest of them gathered in the living room to ascertain the current situation. Twilight and the others sat on the couch while Kirito sat in one of the recliner seats across from them.

It was slow at first, since the girls, having never been all that technologically savvy—usually relying on Pinkie’s expertise in technology—first needed to understand exactly what a video game was. After that was cleared, things seemed to progress more smoothly. Twilight explained about the existence of other worlds and that they were travelers from one. Surprisingly, Kirito took the news well. And likewise, he explained his own situation.

After he was done, Twilight steepled her figures in contemplation. “So you and about 4500 others have been trapped in this life-like game for over 5 years now?”

Kirito nodded grimly. “Yes, by a madman named Heathcliff, also known as Kayaba Akihiko. Basically, we can’t get out until we defeat the bosses on each of the 100 floors of this tower.”

Dash leaned back and sat her feet on top of the glass table between them, much to Rarity’s horror. “Well if it’s been 5 years, why are you guys still here? Just take down the guy who trapped you all already.”

Kirito clenched his fist as a few choice memories resurfaced. He thought back to the time on the 75th floor where he revealed Heathcliff’s identity and had a chance to defeat him once and for all. Unfortunately, his reliance on the games registered combos lead to his downfall and Heathcliff’s escape. He couldn’t help but get riled up, it was a scene that haunted his nightmares; his greatest failure. “It’s not...” he sighed, clenching his teeth, “that easy.”

Dash noticed his dangerous expression and instantly regretted her statement. “Woah woah, sorry!”

“Rachelle!” chided Rarity, knocking the girl’s feet off the glass. “There was no need to be so insensitive. Obviously, they are trying their very best.” She turned back to Kirito. “What floor have you all made it to so far?”

Kirito took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He’d save his anger for another time, for another person. “We’re stuck on floor 95. We’ve tried taking it several times but we lose every time.”

It was at this point that Asuna returned with several drinks for the group. Having been listening the entire time, she continued where Kirito had left off. “It’s gotten to the point where most of the players have given up on trying,” she said sadly as she sat the drinks down and sat in the identical recliner next to Kirito’s.

“Golly,” AJ breathed, “that does sound a bit tough. Ah’m guessin’ you can’t do it by yerselves then?” Both of them nodded in response.

Dash leaned over the table and gave Kirito a winning smile. “Fine, then how about we help you kick his ass?”

Asuna gasped. “Really? But don’t you all have other responsibilities. Now that I think about it, why did you all choose to come… here…” Asuma looked on in confusion at the depressed looks of the four girls in front of her. “W-what? What’s wrong?”

“Sugarcube…,” AJ began, frowning, “we didn’t choose to come here…”

“Eeek!” Everyone turned to look at Rarity, whom had decided to take a drink of the tea before it got cold. However, as soon as she picked up the cup, it began glitching and fizzing out of existence. Entire sections of the cup inverted and turned into ones and zeros before the entire thing simply exploded altogether.

Everyone simply stared in shocked silence at the scene; everyone except Kirito who sighed dejectedly. “I thought so.” He slumped back in his chair. “Well at least that proves you all aren’t NPCs.”

“Kirito,” scolded Asuna, “You still thought they were lying?”

Kirito was quick to defend himself. “I didn’t say that. But the possibility that Kayaba’s messing with us is still there. I was just being cautious.” The last thing he needed was to be lectured by his wife.

Twilight reached out to touch another cup, only for nothing to happen. Hesitantly, she tried to pick it up, and that’s when it glitched and exploded. “Interesting.”

She tried again with a third cup; this time, however, she did not pick it up, but instead she nudged to the left. Nothing happened so she tried moving the cup across the platter it was on. Kirito admired Twilight’s inquisitive nature, choosing to study the phenomenon instead of asking directly. He watched as Twilight did the same with the other cups, moving them around and even knocking one over. “It it only glitches when picked up,” she observed. “Or more specifically, when it’s removed from the platter. What does this prove?”

“It’s an issue with the coding,” he answered. “It doesn't know how to deal with you. Normally, the cup is a public object that can be picked up by any player. It does so by becoming the property of said player and temporarily placing itself in their inventory when removed from the platter. It becomes equipment instead of a stationary object. That’s the basic explanation anyway.”

Rarity spoke up, piecing together where he was going with his explanation. “But since we aren’t players we don’t have any inventory. So when the cup is removed from it’s spot it has nowhere to go.”

“Causing the glitch to occur,” finished Twilight. She thought about it. “Then I suppose that wouldn’t work with NPCs then.”

Asuna shook her head. “No, even NPCs have their own inventory. Frankly, I’m not even sure how you all are even here. The Cardinal system should be doing something about it.”

“What in the hay is a cardinal system?” asked AJ.

“The CS,” began Asuna, ”the Cardinal System, is the chief problem solver of this world. It constantly watches over Sword Art Online and fixes any and all errors that the world experiences. For example…” she gestured to the table, and, as if on cue, the two cups that had previously exploded, reappeared back in their original positions. “The system finds a problem, removes it from the game, fixes it, then replaces it. I would say that the very presence of you all is one large error. You should be disappearing or something.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “I have a theory. Excuse me.” Holding out her hand, Twilight called forth Magical Element into it, much to Asuna’s surprise.

“That’s the weapon from before,” she gasped, taking in the sight of the odd tool. It looked bore like a club or a key than any type of sword already existing in the game.

Twilight nodded. “You see, when traveling worlds, it’s not uncommon for a person to encounter different languages, or environments. Our weapons allow us to access a passive sort of magic that allows us to bypass things like that in order to keep us safe. However, when something tries to alter our body or physiology to fit the environment, we need something else.” Twilight pointed to the jacket she was wearing. “There is a strong magic in our clothes that protect us from being changed or affected. I theorize that one or both of these defenses are what’s keeping the Cardinal System from attacking us. Unfortunately, our ship had no such defense, which is why it banished itself.”

Dash checked out her own clothes. “Seriously? I didn’t know that…”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Rachelle, do you ever pay attention during lessons?”

“That actually reminds me…” Everyone turned to Kirito, who until that point had gone quiet. He was nervously staring at Dash. “You had one of those Keyblades too right?”

Dash nodded, though she was slightly unnerved by the boys intense look. “Yeah… wait, how did you know that’s what it was called?” she wondered. At least, she didn’t think anyone said what their weapons were called.

“Interesting…” muttered Kirito. His eyes darted from her to Twilight then back to Dash. Finally, he decided to voice his concerns. “Sorry if this sounds weird… but I’ve been wondering something since I’ve met you…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you, by any chance, know a boy named Spike?”

Author's Note:

Woooo it's the one year anniversary of this story!! Have a chapter. I'm already halfway through the next one so it'll be up soon.

Comments

[Forgedheart]

wow right at the end there amazing cliffhanger
I'm so glad this story updated!!

[DARKPHANTOM13]

Finally an update and with a cliffhanger. I can't wait to see where this goes. Hopefully to a Spike vs. Pinkemina showdown.

[Nasha Rei Kun]

And the shit just keeps on rolling XD. Well this is going to turn out just dandy obviously /humorousSarcasm. Oh the reactions will be well wortht he wait.

[otaku-Drake]

Awww spike has been talking about Dash. isn't that sweet.

[Whiteeyes]

....awkward.