//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - The Dual Keys // Story: Embrace your Destiny // by Ocelot the Devil //------------------------------// *The opening intro begins as a shadowy figure watches the sunrise over the horizon with a key-shaped weapon in her hands.* *Boom goes the dynamite, Feels like I'm taking flight…* *The sun rises high in the air as it dissolves the shadow surrounding the mysterious figure.* *Alright, alright, alright…* *The shadowy figure is revealed to be Kairi who stands on a cliff and awaits for the day to begin. As the sun rises, she flicks her hair a bit and smiles before jumping down to start the day as the current scene ends.* *Everything is magical, Anything is possible…* *A new scene shows Kairi and her pony friends fighting against the unknown black creatures known as the Heartless.* *Alright, alright, alright…* *A couple of Heartless appear behind Fluttershy before jumping in the air to attack them only for Twilight Sparkle to use her horn to blast them away.* *Oooh! Feels so electric, Oooh! I'm gonna get it…* *Rainbow Dash and Applejack both combine their skills and powers to take down as few Heartless – mainly Rainbow using her wings while Applejack her lasso.* *Oooh! Feels so electric, Alright, alright, alright…* *Rarity uses her horn on some of the creatures while Pinkie Pie pulled out her cannon to shoot some Heartless.* *I am who I wanna be! Who, I wanna be! Who, I wanna be!* *In the end, Kairi struck down the last of the creatures before staring at the moon at the night sky as the scene ended.* *I am moving to the beat! Moving to the beat! Moving to the beat!* *The next scene shows Midnight-Vanitas in her temporary hideout as she spies on Kairi and the ponies via a special kind of mirror projector.* *I'm a strong individual, feelin' that power! I'm so original, you sing it louder!* *Midnight-Vanitas turns off the projection before taking off her masked helmet just as the scene is completely shadowed and only her evil light purple eyes are shown before closing.* *I am… Who, I wanna be! Who, I wanna be! Who, I wanna be… I am!* *A new scene shows Kairi in casual clothes and Twilight Sparkle exploring the city of Manehatten while Midnight-Vanitas spies on them via a rooftop.* *I'm a, I'm a go-getter, I'm on that trendsetter… Alright, alright, alright!* *Smiling underneath her masked helmet, she looked away from them before staring at the big building in the far distance – The Public Mall. A trap was set for them over there as the scene ended.* *See me in the headlines! I am one of a kind! Making' everything shine… Alright, alright!* *The next scene shows Kairi and Twilight taking on the Heartless inside the Public Mall while Midnight-Vanitas awaits in the shadows to make her move.* *I am who I wanna be, Who, I wanna be, Who, I wanna be!* *Once the Heartless are all gone, Midnight comes out of the shadows to challenge Kairi and Twilight.* *I am moving to the beat… Moving to the beat… Moving to the beat (oooh)!* *Kairi and Midnight’s Keyblades clash together while Twilight charges her horn to attack the masked female from behind. As the intro song nears to an end, the scene dissolves.* *I'm a strong individual, feelin' that power! I'm so original, you sing it louder!* *The final scene shows Kairi and her pony friends getting ready to take a picture together with smiles on their faces. Photo Finish tells them to get into position before snapping the photo.* *I am… Who, I wanna be… Who, I wanna be… Who, I wanna be…* *The song reaches its end as the words: Embrace your Destiny! – appear in yellowish-white. Leaning on them is a confident and smiling Kairi with her Keyblade at the ready!* *I AM!* Chapter 13 - The Dual Keys (Kairi’s POV) “Big sis!” I looked up from my phone as I watched Luna come barreling out of the Ponyville schoolhouse to wrap me in a hug. I laughed as I returned the hug. “What’s got you so excited?” Luna looked up with a grin. “Weeellllll…” ***30 Minutes Ago*** “Alright class,” Cheerilee addressed the class with a smile. “As you all know, we’ve been studying biology for the past week.” The class nodded in understanding. “Well, due to the progress we’ve made in the subject, I’m assigning a new research project. You will all break into groups of four and give a presentation on the pony body.” The whole class started muttering to each other, some with smiles, and other with a groan. “Psst, hey Luna!” The young filly turned her head to the left where Applebloom was trying to get her attention. “Wanna work with us?” she asked, gesturing to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. The young filly nodded with a smile as she turned back to Cheerilee who was giving the instructions on the project. ***End Flashback*** “Ahh, I see now,” I chuckled. “You’re excited because you have friends who want to work with you.” “Mmhmm!” Luna replied, beaming. “But, I am a little worried. They seem a little TOO focused on finding their Cutie Marks to actually do the assignment.” I snickered. “Too true, but I think I can help you four with your project.” “Really? How?” “Simple,” I smirked. “I actually researched pony biology to make sure the food we’ve been eating wouldn’t be harmful to you, and learned that pony biology is practically identical to human biology, with the sole exception being diet.” My sister frowned. “Okaaay, and that helps us how?” My smirk broadened. “Well, I have this fantastic little show called Cells at Work, which goes and explains various bodily functions.” Luna’s eyes lit up. “OOOHHH! We could show that to the class!” “No,” I replied with a frown. “Not only would that not be your own work, it's created from a human standpoint. There are other ways that you could use it to your advantage.” Luna was about to reply, instead, however, we found ourselves stepping through a portal. Again. Why is it that whenever me and Luna get zapped through a portal, it’s always when we don’t expect it? My eyes widened in shock as we stepped out of the portal. Once again, we seemed to be in the Palace of the Two Sisters, but that wasn’t the shocking part. Oh no. The shocking part was who summoned us. It was… Well… “You’re… ME!?” we both shouted in shock, pointing at each other. My double summoned her Keyblade and aimed it at me with a glare. "Okay, sister! Time to pay the piper! Who the hell are you and why do you look like me? You've got ten seconds or else I'll beat you to a pulp!" she warned. “Woah, woah, woah,” I raised my hands, trying to placate her. “I know you’re confused, but I’m not your enemy here. Let’s just put the Keyblade down, and let’s talk about this.” My double snorted. "Not gonna happen! I warned you!" What happened next was her charging straight at me with a battle roar. I quickly waved in an upward motion, drawing on my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic to create a weak defensive wall. Which probably wasn’t the best move on my part. Needless to say, my double was stunned by what I did before she concentrated and used Destiny's Embrace to shatter the barrier much to my surprise, though in hindsight, I probably should have expected. "That magic… smells like those Heartless and that masked figure… that's the darkness!" My double spoke in a surprised tone. “First of all, its shadows, not darkness,” I retorted, summoning my own Keyblade, this one being Way to Dawn. “Easy mistake to make. Second, I didn’t even know darkness HAD a smell. I didn’t think anyone had the same ability as Riku to “smell” darkness.” Upon my double seeing Way to Dawn, she was surprised. "Another Keyblade Wielder!? Are you the masked figure?" She questioned. “Masked figure?” Kairi asked with a raised eyebrow, before groaning. “Oh don’t tell me, you have a masked Vanitas wanna-be running around…” I quickly raise my Keyblade to block a strike from my double. "I bet you're just lying to get some sympathy! You're probably wearing a suit like this 'Vanitas' wanna-be!" She accused me. “Oh for heaven’s sake,” I mutter as I spy Luna scrambling out of the way. I quickly jump away, switching my Keyblade to Oathkeeper, before triggering the Transformation. “Promise Keeper!” My clothes took on a silvery sheen, as the Keyblade transformed into a Kusarigama. "Huh!? The hell!?" The double yelled in a surprise tone. “It's clear to me that you’re still new to all of this, especially if you don’t know a Keyblade Transformation when you see one,” I calmly explain, before throwing the weight on the end of my Kusarigama’s chain to wrap around her ankle. I then start to bounce off the surrounding trees, wrapping her up in a cocoon of chains. “Now then, are you ready to talk?” “H-hey, let me out of here you faker!” She demanded in an angry tone. “I will, don’t worry,” I replied. “But first we need to have a little conversation about jumping to conclusions. Have you ever heard the saying that assumptions make an ass out of you and me?” She glared at me but then we both heard an enraged “Are you kidding!? Another one!?”, behind us. We both looked to see… the Vanitas wanna-be! But in the form of a girl with a different color scheme. “Ahh, it seems the proof that I’m not your Vanitas wanna-be is standing right behind us,” I quipped. “If I let you out, are you willing to work with me to get rid of her?” “Definitely… but you owe me some answers when this is all done!” She warned me. “Of course,” I agreed, recalling the chains and releasing her. “Now then, let’s even the odds, shall we?” “I like that idea a lot!” She agreed with a grin as the Vanitas wanna-be summoned her Keyblade - it wasn’t Void Gear though. “Huh, that’s new,” I muttered, drawing on my music magic. “I’m about to do something that can give us both a boost. All I ask is that if you know the song, sing along, it’ll boost the effect.” “I would… but one problem - is an amnesiac allowed to sing?” My double joked with a soft smile as I looked at her in disbelief. Amnesia...? I shook my head, deciding to focus on that later. “Don’t worry if you can’t, just join in if you can.” And with the drums kicking in, I started running as I sang: “Hey, are you, ready to go? ‘Cause, you know, the way to go! I’ll, believe, the way we chose! So, let’s go, the brand new world!” I charge forward, switching Keyblades once again to Fairy’s Flow, coating it in shadows, and taking a swing at the Vanitas wanna-be. The Vanitas wanna-be was knocked back a bit before she could react. “H-hey, no fair!” She screamed in pain and anger. “Fair? HA!” I replied as the music played out. “That’s rich coming from you!” “Everybody try to keep it down, Got to breathe so quietly, and trace along the borderline” I quickly jumped into my shadow form as she growled and launched a few dark fireballs at me. I maneuvered behind her, and sent spikes of shadow out towards her back. “Past the voice that doesn’t make a sound, It’ll come to you, when you step right in and take the dive” The wanna-be glared at me and casted a Cure spell on herself before teleporting away much to my surprise. Who was she…? “I can’t even stop myself for just one second - dash across the world!” The Vanitas Wanna-be teleported above me and prepared to strike me down. “Playtime’s over, slut!” “Add some color, if you just stay yourself then you can Rediscover, and change yourself time and again Beyond this darkness that doesn’t seem to ever end So go embark, don’t you hesitate, now go ahead!” I nearly stopped singing to scream at the Vanitas wanna-be for the slut comment, but I simply narrowed my eyes, as I melted into my shadow again, to avoid the overhead strike. My eyes then widened as I realized my double had joined in with my song, as she made a strike on our enemy’s unprotected rear! “GAH! HEY, YOU CHEATER!” The Vanitas wanna-be accused my double as she landed gently next to me. “Mind if I join in on the singing?” She asked me. I grinned. “Not at all, go for it!” “I regret so much when I hesitate, I couldn’t protect them with these hands Every time you wipe away, all your tears, you’ll get even stronger where you stand” We both attacked her - one in the front and one in the back. I swung at her with both Keyblade strikes and strikes from my shadows, while she swung out with her Keyblade, although just a little bit clumsily. “Everybody’s claiming what they think is right while blocking out the sky expanding overhead As the streak is shining with its beam of light go reach your hands as far as they extend!” The wanna-be got mad and conjured two versions of herself before ordering them to attack us. “Let’s see how you handle two versions of me!” She told us and laughed. I grinned as I opened my mouth and inhaled. Slowly but surely, the darkness that they were made from was pulled into my gaping maw as I ate them. “Far beyond all the hope that I am holding onto Where the sun lies, the source of pride I’ve always wanted Don’t delay, keep on moving oh so carelessly, so Where’s the way to the future that we haven’t seen?” The wanna-be was shocked which soon turned into anger. “HOW DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS!? YOU IDIOTS ARE PISSING ME OFF!!!” My grin turned into a smirk, before I took a deep breath, a magic circle appearing in front of me. “SHADOW DRAGON ROAR!!” I screamed as I let loose a blast of pure shadow magic. “Shining oh so brightly, dazzling and sparkling Leap over all the values the world is throwing at you On this road I travel, no path to unravel In front of me I counted more sparks than I had ever seen!” My double landed beside me as we watched the wanna-be stagger back from my Shadow Dragon Roar. “I thought you had amnesia?” I asked with a grin. “I still do! I just… for some reason, the song that you’re singing seems catchy and I couldn’t help but try and remember how the lyrics went.” She replied with a soft smile. “Well, we’ve still got a chorus in the song, how about we beat this poser black and blue?” I asked with a feral grin. “Couldn’t agree more!” My double agreed with a nod. “Hey are you ready to go? ‘Cause you know the way to go What to do, it’s up to you I say you, it’s time to choose!” We both assaulted the Vanitas poser together and struck her from multiple directions. I also began drawing my magic to prepare for a final strike. “Add some color, if you just stay yourself then you can Rediscover, and change yourself time and again Beyond this darkness that doesn’t seem to ever end So go embark, don’t you hesitate, now go ahead!” “OH, YOU BITCHES! YOU’RE GOING TO-” We cut her off by continuing to strike her without slowing down. “Far beyond all the hope that I am holding onto Where the sun lies, the source of pride I’ve always wanted Don’t delay, keep on moving oh so carelessly, so Where’s the way to the future that we haven’t seen?” I grinned as I raised my hand, creating a pair of black doors with my Shadow Dragon Slayer magic. “Hey are you ready to go? ‘Cause you know the way to go I’ll believe the way we chose So let’s go, the brand new world!” As the song ended, I kicked the dazed wanna-be into my Doors of Hades spell. The doors closed and imploded, leaving a sprawled figure on the ground. “Ugh… my head…” She admitted with a groan. “Huh, so that’s what it looks like from this side…” I mused as I approached, pointing my Keyblade at the masked villain. “So, this creep has been causing you problems?” I asked my double. “Sadly… you mentioned she’s a Vanitas wanna-be?” My double asked a question back. “Yeah, long story, but Vanitas is a former member of Organization XIII,” I explained. “I say former, because both he, and Organization XIII are long dead.” I took my eyes off of her for just a second, but it was long enough for the wanna-be to get up and launch a dark fireball at Luna. It happened so fast, I wasn’t able to do anything about it. “LUNA!!” I screamed, but despite my worst fears, my little sister figure narrowed her eyes, reached her hand forward, and summoned her Keyblade to her, blocking the fireball. My eyes widened in shock. After all those weeks of trying to summon her Keyblade, she finally pulls it off, and just as we suspected, it was the Oblivion Keyblade. “ANOTHER FUCKING KEYBLADE WIELDER!? ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW!?!?” The wanna-be screamed as my double glared at her. “Alright, THAT’S IT!” I screamed, forming a GIANT hammer with my shadow magic. I quickly took a swing, launching her off into the distance. “We’re blasting off again!!” Luna cheers with a laugh. “You’ve been watching my anime collection again, haven’t you?” I asked with a soft smile. “Maybe,” she grinned in reply. “That… was… amazing!” My double screamed with a grin on her face. Luna and I turned back to my double with a smirk as our Keyblades dispersed. “Well, comes from all the skills shoved sideways into my brain, along with a little help from friends. Honestly, I’m surprised you don’t know any of the basic spells yet.” My double lost her smile. “Hey! I have amnesia… give me some credit.” “Fair enough,” I nodded. “Now, I promised you answers, and answers you’ll get. Go ahead and ask your questions.” “First question - who are you? I doubt you are really called Kairi even though you kept using the name.” This was her first question. I grimaced. “Wow, you really had to go for the most awkward question first.” I shook my head. “Well, yes, you are correct that I wasn’t always Kairi. I was originally a 21 year-old man named Dmetri. Pretty awkward showing up in the magical land of ponies as the opposite gender. I continue to use Kairi’s name though, since my old name really doesn’t fit. I’m sure its much the same as what happened to you, but considering how naturally you act, I’d say you’ve been female your whole life.” “You’d be right about that… funnily enough, I do remember some bits of my memories where I was called ‘Mi-’ something…” She explained. I groaned. “Of course there’s a version of the Merchant out there that would screw around with people’s memories…” “Merchant…?” She raised a brow at that question. I shook my head again. “Alright, I guess its time I explained THAT as well. To put it simply, you and I are what are called ‘Displaced’. Those who have been sent to another world as a fictional character after buying something from the Merchant, usually at a convention of some sort. Although, I do know at least one Displaced who ordered something from the Merchant online, rather than buying it in person.” My double’s eyes widened. “Displaced? That’s what I’m called… and why I look like this Kairi. Who is Kairi though?” I smirked. “Kairi is a Princess of Heart, who is able to use the Keyblade. She’s the lead female character in a series of video games called Kingdom Hearts. Her specialty is light magic, if you’re having trouble learning magic.” “Ah, that explains it… she looks so… pink.” She commented. “Meh, it's better than her original outfit, in my opinion,” I shrugged. “If you want to see what she wore before, take a look to your left at my sister.” I pointed to Luna who gave a little wave. My double’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow… cute attire.” She commented. “You’re not wrong,” I chuckled. “Any other questions?” “Yes, your Luna is so freaking cute! Can I adopt her?” She asked me. I barked out a laugh. “No, no. We need her in our world as well. Besides, your world is the usual ponies rather than anthroes, based on the appearance of your Fluttershy and Twilight. Speaking of which, why don’t you two come out, I know you’re there.” Fluttershy and Twilight came out albeit with looks of shock, amusement, suspicion and just plain weirdness. “I imagine the suspicion is from me looking like an older version of your Kairi?” I asked, noticing their expressions. “Y-yeah… also, the fact I’m seeing a human-like pony version of the Princess…” Twilight admitted. I nodded. “Kinda surprised you haven’t asked about her age yet.” “I was going to… how old is she?” “As old as your Luna, however, the story of Nightmare Moon is VERY different from what you’re familiar with,” I sighed. “Gah… how serious are we talking about?” I sighed as I closed my eyes. “Rather than become Nightmare Moon, she extracted her own heart due to paranoia. This resulted in a heartless that called itself Nightmare Moon, and if Celestia hadn’t cast a stasis spell on Luna’s body, it also would have created a Nobody as well. Luna is so young now, because in our world, when a pony loses their heart, their body ages rapidly backwards until it is literally nothing. Luna’s lucky that Celestia managed to cast her stasis spell when she did.” Twilight’s eyes lit up. “What!? Why would Celestia do that to Luna?” “As I said,” Kairi replied, opening her eyes to stare at Twilight. “Luna extracted her own heart. She was tricked into doing it by someone both her and Celestia trusted. Celestia cast a stasis spell on Luna’s body when she realized what she had done. She would have destroyed the heartless as well, but it escaped to the moon, somewhere she simply couldn’t go.” “I get that… but what was the sole motivation?” Twilight wondered. “What do you mean?” I questioned. “Who’s motivation?” “The person whom Celestia and Luna trusted.” Twilight asked. “We know him as the Master of Masters, but really, he meddles in the affairs of worlds, trying to rewrite their stories in a way that he approves of,” I explained. “Beyond that, even we don’t know his true motives or intentions.” “Oh…” Twilight sighed heavily. I nodded. “Any other question you guys have? Honestly, you had a few less questions than I did when I first arrived.” “Ooh! I had one! Is Fluttershy your Mama?” Luna asked my double. “Actually that’s a good question,” I agreed. “I noticed that Fluttershy moved to you pretty quickly after I pointed out she was there.” “Oh! Ummm…” My double looked at Fluttershy who was holding her hand gently. From the looks of things, Fluttershy was deeply protective of Kairi. I smiled softly. “If you don’t feel comfortable answering, I’ll let the question drop. But then, who knows, maybe my mind will go straight to the gutter, if you know what I mean.” “The… gutter?” Fluttershy raised a brow. “She means that she’ll have some pervy ideas,” Luna explained with a roll of her eyes. Both my double and Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. “I… I don’t love Kairi that way! I love her only as a daughter!” Fluttershy admitted. “HAHAHAH!!” I burst out laughing. “You should have seen your faces!!” Both my double and Fluttershy’s faces morphed into shocked ones. “Oh come on, you have to admit, that was funny!” I continued laughing, before getting a hold of myself. “But seriously though, do you have any other questions in terms of-” My question was interrupted by my Gummi Phone ringing, which I answered. “Excuse me for a sec… Yeah?... Wait, WHAT?!?!? OK, we’ll be there in a sec.” I hung up, quickly scrolling through the apps on my phone. “Umm, what are you doing? And what’s that thing supposed to be?” Twilight wondered with a brow. “This is a Gummi Phone, a way to communicate between worlds,” I explained. “A friend of mine just informed me that a heartless called the Ruler of the Sky is attacking Ponyville, so I’m trying to open the Stargate back to my world… AH! There it is!” A moment after activating the app, the large, water-like portal opened a couple feet away from me. “I really hate to leave you all in the middle of my explanation, but me and Luna really need to take care of this!” “Can I do anything to help out though?” My double asked. I paused before heading through. “If you want, you can come help us fight the thing. Honestly, I’m dreading having to fight this thing.” “Is it that serious though?” My double raised a brow. “Heartless that can fly are seriously a pain to deal with,” I explained with a groan. “And before you ask Luna, no, you can’t help fight this thing.” “Aww, but why not?” Luna whined. “Because you only JUST managed to summon your Keyblade. You need some SERIOUS training before you’re ready to fight anything stronger than a Shadow,” I retorted with a glare. “Majority rules, little sis.” The other Kairi cracked a grin at Luna and ruffled her hair. “Alright, let’s get going,” I sighed. “Knowing Melissa, she’ll be waiting for us with some tech to even the odds.” I quickly step through, followed by Luna. My double along with Fluttershy and Twilight came after us. We emerged into the Gate room, where we were met by Melissa. “About time you got back, I thought you were picking up Luna from school!” she yelled. “I was, we were summoned to her world,” I explained, waving to my double. “I got back as quickly as I could. In any case, if I remember correctly, the Ruler of the Sky is a flying boss. You have anything to even the odds?” “As a matter of fact, I do,” the techie nodded, pulling out some jetpacks. “I made these based off of the jetpacks in Fortnite. They run on the ambient magic of the world, so don’t worry about running out of fuel.” “Great! Would you mind teleporting us to town to deal with it then?” “Of course,” Melissa nodded. “Though I hope you don’t plan on taking Luna and Fluttershy with you. Neither of them can really fight.” “We won’t… Also, you are?” My double asked Melissa. “Melissa Shields, local tech expert and support from The Tower,” Melissa introduces herself, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Basically I make the tech, and make sure its all working, as well as monitor the world for Heartless attacks.” “Ah… Are you a Displaced as well?” My other half wondered. “Yep, though I’ve been here for over a thousand years,” the techie nodded. “But we can discuss this later. We have a Heartless to get rid of. The Element Bearers are holding it off for now, but they won’t be able to last much longer.” “Right, if you would do the honors?” And with that, me, my double, and Twilight found ourselves in the midst of a pitched battle. “Where have you BEEN?!?!?” a yell from my world’s Twilight got our attention. “I’m sorry! I got summoned!” I yelled back, leaping into the air with my jetpack. My double and pony Twilight also activated their jetpacks and leaped into the air to catch up with me. From our vantage point we were able to make out the heartless. It resembled a large, skeletal parrot, its body covered in violet plumage with a jeweled, gold collar around its neck. Its tail was comprised of several skulls linked together, while its wings were comprised of four gold cutlasses with alternating violet and red gems set in their guards. The topmost cutlass in each wing ended in a hook, and none of the cutlasses were actually connected to each other. The Ruler of the Sky's head sported yellow eyes and a jeweled, violet and gold crown with its mouth comprised of a brown treasure chest filled with gold coins with gold lining, and black spikes acting as teeth that the Heartless had clenched in its beak. Its Heartless emblem was on the top of its crown. “Yep, that’s what I thought it was,” I groaned. “This is gonna be a long and tedious fight. Alright, here's what we need to do. First, we need to corner it, and break off its tail, that’ll stun it for a few seconds. Then we need to immobilize it long enough to kill it, meaning we need to make sure it doesn’t move after it recovers from the stun. Rainbow, get some Thunder magic ready. Twilights, if you two can trap it in a shield bubble, we should be able to take it out quickly. Everyone else, take out the smaller heartless rampaging through town.” “You got it!” Rainbow called, electricity crackling along her Keyblade. “Another Keyblade Wielder!?” My double recoiled in shock. “Yeah, it turns out that the Elements of Harmony were Keyblades. So all six of the Element Bearers are Keyblade Wielders. Now less talky, more fighty!” “What’s the plan for me though?” Kairi asked me. “You’re coming with me to ruin this thing’s day!” I yelled as I pushed the throttle to catch up to the Ruler, slamming my Destiny’s Embrace into the tail, causing it to roar in pain. My double summoned her Destiny’s Embrace and slammed it into the other tail. “Now, what do I hit next?” She asked me. “Just keep hitting it until it breaks off,” I shout back. “Hopefully, the Twilights will be able to trap it in a bubble after it’s stunned!” We continued hammering the tails until the Ruler decided that it had had enough, turning and swiping at us with the cutlass wings. We dodged and continued attacking, until. *SHATTER* *ROAR* “Welp, there it goes,” I called, seeing the Ruler fall to the ground on the outskirts of town. “Twilights, NOW!” With that, two purple barriers snapped into existence, pinning the heartless in place, followed by Rainbow firing off numerous lightning projectiles, causing the Ruler to howl in pain. “Alright! Almost got it!” I cheered. “Kairi, would you care to do the honors of finishing it off?” “Hell yeah!” My double raised her Keyblade before slamming it down to the target area. With a final roar, the Ruler of the Skies faded into darkness, as a large crystalline heart floated away. “Phew, nice job, other me!” My double thanked me as we both fist-pumpted in regards to the victory. “Ugh, honestly, I’m surprised it was as easy as it was…” I sighed with a smile. “In any case, lets head back to The Tower.” “Agreed. Can I be honest though - I feel like I love your Kairi design better than mine… dunno why though.” My double admitted. “You and everyone else who played Kingdom Hearts III,” I laughed as we both started flying towards The Tower, followed by her Twilight. *** “Alright, so let me get this straight,” Melissa sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This Kairi,” she points at my double, “is brand new to the whole Displaced deal, and on top of that, has amnesia. Am I missing anything?” “Other than the fact that I feel so insulted about the whole ‘Displaced’ explanation and being reminded I have amnesia doesn’t help out…” My double admitted and sighed. “OK then,” the techie nods. “Which means that you probably don’t have a Token yet.” “Token?” My double raised a brow. “Right, you should have picked up a star shaped charm made of seashells before summoning Kairi. Played a little message in your head?” My double went silent to think and then remembered. “Oh… oh, yeah! I do remember that.” “That is an example of a Token,” Melissa explained. “The message attached tells you about the person you’re summoning, and then tells you how to summon them. In the case of Kairi here, the method is to say the word ‘light’ while holding it. Make sense?” “I think so… So, I have to come up with my own sentence in order to summon the token?” Kairi asked. “No, no,” the techie shook her head. “You take an item that represents you. Then you attach a message to it while infusing it with magic. After that, it disappears into the Void, to spread itself out through the multiverse, while dropping a copy into your hand.” “Ooh… hmm, that’s going to be hard in creating the item.” “You don’t need to create an item. Anything from your world will do as long as it has some sort of sentimental value attached.” “That’s a problem since Kairi didn’t come with anything of value…” Twilight explained. “I’ve actually known at least one Displaced who used their own weapon as a Token,” I decided to butt into the conversation. “That being said, I wouldn’t use your Keyblade itself, but I would use the keychain attached to the end of your Keyblade.” My other self nodded before thinking. “Hmmm… I suppose the keychain would work out too.” “Alright then, you’ll want to do this in your home world then, otherwise the Token might summon me instead. Melissa, would you mind dialing the Gate back to my double’s world?” The techie narrowed her eyes. “Hang on a sec. I think we need to test her and train her a little before sending her back. We can use the Simulator to do that.” “Hmm, probably a good idea,” I mused. “What do you think, other me?” She shrugged. “Sure, sounds like a good idea. I could go for some more training.” “Alright then, follow me,” I led the group up the stairs to a control room with another door leading into the simulator. Upon entering I called out. “Computer, load simulation Tartarus.” “Acknowledged. Which floor do you wish to start on?” “Floor 1 please.” “Acknowledged. Simulation ready.” The door on the far side of the room opened, revealing the entrance hall of Tartarus. “You know… when you said Tartarus… I expected more of a hellish landscape with fires and demons.” Twilight joked a bit. “You’ve played Ogres and Oubliettes with Spike before, right Twilight?” I asked. Twilight giggled a bit. “We have… speaking of which, Kairi… I have to let you try it when we get back.” She said to my double. “As long as it's easy enough.” My double commented. I nodded. “Think of this like one of the dungeons in the game. It has 263 floors of increasing difficulty, which makes it an excellent training ground. Just be aware, I have already added barriers at certain points that require certain skills to pass. If you don’t have those skills, you’ll have to come back later with the right skill. I’ll set up a Stargate for you on your world so that you can continue later. Any questions?” “Just one - how tough will our opponents be exactly?” My double asked. “We’ll start with Shadows, Soldiers, and similar heartless in the first block, floors 1-16, and when we make it into the next block, they’ll get harder to deal with.” “Right… whelp, I don’t know about you but I’m eager to get started.” My double declared with a grin. I echoed her grin as we stepped into the entrance hall, and climbed the stairs to the first floor. *** 5th Floor “Welcome to the first Boss Floor of Tartarus,” I grinned. “The boss of this floor is the Guard Armor, very simple boss. Take out the limbs, and then target the torso for the kill.” “Gotcha. Should be easy enough to handle!” My double stated and prepared for a fight. *** 10th Floor “Alright, second boss floor. We’ve got the Trickmaster on this floor,” I explained. “You did very well with the Guard Armor, now let's see how you do against a boss that dwarfs you. The Trickmaster is IMMENSELY tall. Its legs are immune to all damage, which means you’ll have to hit the main body. Knock it over, and wreck its day to finish the fight.” “I never expected to learn about so many Heartless in all shapes and forms… So exciting!” Twilight admitted. “We’ll have one more boss before the end of the first block, so if you want to learn about all the big boss heartless, come back with Kairi when she gets the skill to move on.” I smiled at Twilight’s enthusiasm. “In regards to the Trickmaster there’s one more thing you need to watch out for. It periodically sets its weapons on fire, so watch out for that. Ready?” “Ooh, who is he?” Twilight wondered. “Who’s who?” “The Heartless.” Kairi asked. “Oh, I’ll tell you about the last Heartless when we get there,” I replied. “In any case, are you ready for the Trickmaster?” *** 14th Floor “Alright, last boss. The Stealth Sneak,” I explained. “The battle starts with it being invisible. You’ll be able to easily see it as a slight shimmer in the air. After we deal enough damage, it’ll reveal itself. It looks like a very large chameleon. Moves to watch out for are its eye beams, and wind attacks, both of which should be very easy to spot. Any questions?” “Nada. Though I feel like I have seen these bosses before… back before I became Kairi… my memories are on the fritz…” “I’m not surprised,” I nodded. “These are all bosses from the original Kingdom Hearts game. Welp, let's get started!” *** 16th Floor We finally climbed up the last flight of stairs to a floor with half of the room blocked by a wall of darkness. “Well done you two,” I grinned at them. “To get through this door, you need to have a light spell to dispel the wall.” “What sort of light spell exactly?” Kairi wondered. “A light orb spell,” I replied, conjuring an orb of light in my hand. “A simple enough spell to cast, but you need to figure out how to cast it yourself, since everyone casts it differently.” “Ah, okay.” My double nodded and concentrated yet was having a little trouble casting it. Must be trying too hard… “Don’t worry too much about figuring it out now, you’ll be able to come back,” I chuckled. “Computer, save progress and end program.” “Acknowledged.” Tartarus dissolved around us to reveal the door back into the control room. “That was fun. So, what do we do next?” My double wondered. I shrugged. “Well, we take you back home, set up a Stargate for you, and answer any other question you might have.” “Don’t forget about setting her up with a Gummi Phone of her own,” Mellisa chimed in. “Ahh, yes, can’t forget that,” I chuckled. My double’s brows arose. “I get my own… Gummi Phone?” I nodded. “Yep. Its the easiest way for us to keep in contact, not to mention a handy way to use the Stargate.” “Ah, I see… ooh, quick question - is it useful for picking up… chicks?” My double joked much to my surprise. I blinked a moment. “Um… well… I mean…” My spluttering was cut off by Melissa roaring with laughter. “Well played! Well played indeed! But in all seriousness, it can help if you’re trying to *snort* pick up a chick in another world.” “Hmm… do you have a girlfriend, beautiful? I seem to remember a memory in which I was either bisexual or a lesbian in my old life… I wouldn’t mind having a partner.” My double winked at Melissa. Melissa smirked. “Oh my, so shameless. Asking me if I have a girlfriend. Well, I appear to be married to my work, but I’m sure she won’t mind.” My double grinned. “Horny and kinky… I love that in women. Hmm… would you like to go out on a date sometimes?” “Hmm, I’ll have to think about it, call me later about it,” the techie smirked, a glint of light flashing off of her glasses. My double nodded and took her hand gently before kissing it. “I look forward to it, beautiful.” I rolled my eyes. “Yes, yes, shameless flirting aside, how about actually focusing on what we need to do? Hint hint, nudge nudge?” “Right, right, back on track,” Melissa smirked, hands flying over her terminal, before it spat a brand new, pink Gummi Phone into her hand. “There you go, brand new phone, though I think Kairi needs to hold onto it so she can calibrate the Stargate on your world.” “Good call,” I replied with a nod, taking the phone. “Well, everyone back to the Gate room!” We all trooped back down to the Gate room, where I suddenly realized something. “Oh bother, my dou- ugh, you know what, this is getting ridiculous, I’m just gonna call you Mina. Anyway, Mina doesn’t have a Token yet, how are we supposed to dial her world?” My double nodded before she froze. “M-mina…? That’s… My name… I remember my name now! It’s Mina!” I blinked. “You mean to tell me I just guessed your name at random? I just picked a name at random that started with ‘Mi’! Mina nodded. “I know… when you said the name, a small glint of my memory returned… including being called Mina. Sadly, that’s all…” “Huh, well stranger things have happened,” I shrugged. In anycase, how are we going to dial her world?” Melissa tilted her head in thought for a bit. “Well, there is the scanner, you could have her put her hand on it,” she then smirked. “She could certainly lend us… a hand!” I groaned at the bad pun, prompting both me and Luna to pull out a Pun-Gun and zap her with it. “Worth it!” she groaned out as she stopped convulsing from the electric shock. Mina’s jaw dropped and rushed forward to check on Melissa who was on the ground with a grin on her face. “My beloved! Noooooooooo!” “You really gotta, HAND it to me, that was at least a decent joke,” the techie punned again. I glared at her and zapped her again. “Listen up chump, you’ve got a real problem. And its me!” Mina got in front of Melissa. “This cutie will not be harmed!” She declared and summoned Destiny’s Embrace. “Oh don’t worry, I’m just being defi-ant!” she spoke up again with a grin. I narrowed my eyes and zapped her again, then once more for good measure. “I think that's enough pun-ishment,” I said with a grin and salute. Melissa’s eyes widened. “But… But… UGH!” Shortly after, a Melissa ghost floated up, only for me to zap it back into her body. I turned back to Mina. “Oh, put your Keyblade away, she’s not actually hurt. The Pun-Gun isn’t deady in the slightest.” Mina sent me a glare but dismissed her weapon. I rolled my eyes at the glare, pulling out my Gummi Phone, and pulling up a certain clip. “Here watch this. We’re only recreating this scene for fun.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a8Wz5C4fys&ab_channel=RogerRabbit Mina snorted at the video. “Wow… okay, that’s interesting.” Melissa nodded. “In any case, back to the matter at hand. WAIT! That wasn’t a pun! *sigh* Any way, we can scan Mina’s hand, and the Gate should register which coordinates to dial in.” I glared at her a moment, Pun-Gun poised, before putting it away. “OK, that sounds like it’ll work.” “This won’t hurt, right?” Mina asked. “Does putting your hand on a table hurt?” Melissa asked rhetorically. “In all seriousness though, if anything its a bit cold to the touch. Completely harmless.” She went and pressed a few buttons on the DHD, allowing the scanner to pop out on the side. “All ready, just place your hand here, and we can get this show on the road.” Mina nodded and placed her hand on the scanner. The Gate whired to life, the inner ring spinning to the various symbols that represented inter-universal coordinates, before the portal whooshed into existence. “Alright, this should put us right back where we were when we came through,” I nodded, gesturing for Mina, Twilight and Fluttershy to follow me through. They did but Twilight had a question. “How scary is the Gate?” I raised an eyebrow. “We used it earlier to get here. You tell me.” “Ooh… nevermind. I’m just yapping like an idiot.” Twilight apologized. “No worries,” I replied, stepping through the Gate, watching the familiar sight of stars and galaxies pass me as we traveled through the wormhole. “Wow… this is… wow.” Twilight admitted - awe was all over her face. I chuckled as I stepped onto the grass of Mina’s world. “It is rather amazing, isn’t it? I’ve traveled through so many times now, it's just part of the scenery.” Mina nodded. “Whelp, I guess we’re finally home. Oh, Kairi… can I ask you a question? A private one… it’s important.” She spoke. “Sure,” I shrugged. We both walked away from Twilight and Fluttershy so it would be getting some privacy. “So, what’s on your mind, other me?” I chuckled at the joke. “Kairi… I was wondering… about Kairi - what exactly is her affiliation? Devoted to the light or the darkness?” Her question caught me off guard. “Um, well, in the games she’s, as you put it, ‘devoted to the light’, but its a bit more complicated than that,” I explained. “I may have mentioned before that Kairi is a Princess of Heart. This essentially means that she has a heart of pure light. That doesn’t necessarily mean she’s devoted to the light, anymore than a heart of pure darkness is devoted to the darkness. It all comes down to the choices we make.” Mina nodded as she crossed her arms. “Well… since I’m playing the role of this ‘Kairi’; I feel like I’m gonna step up my game if I’m gonna defeat the Vanitas look alike… hmm, I could channel the light and darkness together to try and accomplish something. Say, is it… nah, it’s a taboo question and it will be ridiculous.” She admitted. “No, no, go ahead,” I shook my head. “I’m willing to answer any question, even the ones that seem taboo. Though I will say, you probably won’t be able to use darkness magic. As I said, Kairi is predisposed to light magic. The only reason I’m able to use it is because it's not darkness magic. Its called Shadow Dragon Slayer magic.” Mina sighed. “I see… hmm, basically the reason I’m asking this is because it might be a weird one… but - let me just pose a question - the figure wears a type of organic armor in the form of a bodysuit right?” “Yyeess…” I nodded, wondering where she was going with this. “Well… if she used a dark bodysuit as armor… what if… what if I made a light bodysuit as armor?” Mina asked. Now it clicked. “Ahh, I see. Well, you can, but it won’t come out as a bodysuit. What you’re describing is called Keyblade Armor. Every Keyblade wielder can summon it, though I will admit that I haven’t personally figured it out yet.” Mina nodded. “Gotcha… hmm, but what if it doesn’t turn out to be armor though?” I shrugged. “There’s nothing in the original lore of the game about it, so it could be anything. But from what I’ve seen, those of the dark have the bodysuit, while those of the light have proper armor. My personal headcanon is that the bodysuit is a corrupted version, therefore making them unable to fully manifest, whereas the armor is the complete, uncorrupted version.” I shook my head. “But we can discuss this more once I start getting your Stargate set up. Where do you want me to set it up? Just make sure its a place that’s easily defensible, and easily hidden. You don’t want someone stumbling on it by accident.” “Hmmm… any ideas on where to set it up though? I’m stumped.” Mina admitted. I nodded. “Well, a friend of mine has hers set up in the ruins of the Palace of the Two Sisters, specifically in a secret chamber she created. I’m sure we can do something similar.” “Hmmm… Ooh, well - what about a place where Kairi enjoys being around?” Mina suggested. “Uumm, that’s not gonna work,” I say slowly. “Kairi’s original world is the Destiny Islands, and is in a video game. This world is basically like the TV show My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, two very different entities from each other.” “Ah… hmmm, I guess somewhere big but quiet?” Mina suggested. “You know, I have plenty of big empty rooms in my castle,” Twilight chimed in as we got closer. “And you just want to study the Gate, don’t you?” I deadpanned. “Well, I mean, yes,” the purple unicorn admitted. “Anything else?” Mina wondered. Twilight nodded. “About that armor thing you mentioned, Kairi- I mean, Mina… this might be silly but I think I can do something like that.” She explained. I raised an eyebrow. “How so?” “I have extensive knowledge in building and one of the books can provide information. If we’re lucky we can have it built today. What do you think, Kairi?” Twilight asked my double. Mina shrugged. “Anything to up the battle with the Vanitas look alike.” I pursed my lips. “Most of the time, the armor is formed by magic, but this’ll be a good crutch until you can figure out how to summon your own. I’ll even add some spells that’ll improve its darkness resistance.” Mina nodded. “Alright. Let’s build ourselves an armor!” She declared with a grin. Kairi chuckled. “We can get to that after I start setting up the Gate. Twilight, would you please lead the way?” Twilight nodded and led us ahead to our destination. “I assume you have a particular room you want the Gate setup in?” I asked with a look around the large crystalline castle. “Remember, it needs to be rather large and easily hidden.” “Well… I have been experimenting with portal teleportation and in one such instance I created an arena of sorts based on a design somewhere… It’s called… ‘Mirage’ something.” Twilight explained. “Wait a moment, you’re telling me that you accidentally created the Mirage Arena?!?!?” I gasped, eyes widening. “If that’s the case, that would be the perfect place to set it up!” “Mirage Arena?” Mina raised a brow. I nodded. “Basically a large arena created to test Keyblade Wielders years ago. I doubt there’s anything programmed into the computer, if you accidentally created it, but it’ll still make a good sparring arena, or, in this case, a perfect place to set up a Stargate!” Mina nodded slowly. “Hopefully it should be a well suited place to set up the Stargate.” “Well, there’s only one way to find out, lead on Purple Smart!” I replied with a smirk. Twilight sent me a look that said ‘Oh, you are so dead!’ before leading us onward to an area where it was deemed safe to teleport to the Mirage Arena. We appeared in a large, mostly hollow, blue sphere floating in space. There were several small, flashing electrical towers on the outer surface, as well a very large version of the same type of tower and a thin, grey tower. At the bottom of the sphere was a grey, triangular shape, while at the top is a large, saucer-like structure with cables running underneath. The structure was surrounded by two concentric rings that constantly rotate about the sphere. The rings had circuitry running along the outer edge, and a pattern of triangles on the inner edge. There were also ghostly rings around the bottom of the sphere and another half-ring running around the center of the structure. “Well, it certainly looks like the Mirage Arena,” I mused as I looked around. Mina looked around the area as well. “Huh… interesting design. So, Key Bearers come here to train?” “Usually,” I nodded. “But like I said, since it was created accidentally, I doubt anything is programmed into the computer. In fact, we can use that computer as the DHD for the Stargate!” “Speaking of Stargate… could we use it to come here and train as well?” Mina wondered. “Bad idea, the Stargate is designed for travel between worlds, not travel between places on a world,” I explained. “Not only that, I’m not willing to mess with any of the settings, since the last time someone tampered with a Stargate, a planet blew up. Though, admittedly, that was a TV show.” Mina nodded slowly. “Oh… well, I guess we’ll just transport here via Twilight’s spell?” “Safest thing to do,” I nodded in agreement, before walking up to the computer terminal. “Well, it looks like I was right about the computer not having anything programmed in. I’ll just connect my phone, start the synthesis app, and we can leave it for an hour.” Mina and Twilight nodded. “So, what do we do in that time though?” Mina wondered. “Well, you said you wanted to get started on that armor, didn’t you?” “I do,” Mina nodded. “Then why don’t we head to a forge and get started?” I grinned. “I’ve never forged anything, but I can enchant things pretty well.” Mina nodded as well and grinned. “Ooh, my very own armor. I feel like… like if I was a red-head disciplinarian with a giant sword.” She joked. I blinked. “That’s… Oddly specific.” Mina raised a brow. “Really? What brought that on?” “Not sure,” I shrugged. “But I feel like that’s a reference to something, not sure what though.” Mina and Twilight shared a glance but both shrugged. It was then that I realized what my double was talking about… now I remembered - Erza Scarlet! I chuckled upon making that realization. “Now I remember. Remind me to show you some of my anime if we’re done with your armor before the Gate is done.” “Sure… any other series besides that anime?” Twilight asked curiously. “Plenty!” I replied, a glint in my eyes. “But right now, we need to start work on the armor. You do have a forge, right?” “Twilight?” Mina asked Twilight who nodded and teleported them to an area where a forging equipment was set up. Turns out we were still in the arena. “Huh, convenient.” I muttered. “Twilight, you’re the one who studied the books on forging, how about you take the lead?” Twilight nodded and used her magic to prepare the tools. “Kai- No. I’ll stick with Mina from now on - Mina, any color scheme in mind?” “Let’s start by focusing on the armor first… and then the color scheme.” Mina told us. “Not to mention, the spells I plan to use for enchanting the armor may or may not permanently color your armor,” I added. Mina nodded. “Exactly. Shall we get started?” *** “Well that took a bit less time than I expected,” I said in surprise, looking down at the armor we had created. My eyes were astonished - it was just like an exact copy of Aqua’s Keyblade Armor but for Kairi’s size… minus the shoes. Guess she will be using her sneakers. “Well now, time for the spells. Any questions before I get started?” “Nope.” Mina shook her head. I nodded, drawing on my magic. I focused on the armor as I began channeling the magic into the armor, imbuing it with both my natural Light magic, as well as my Shadow Dragon Slayer magic. The combination of magic allowed for a high defense against darkness, not to mention making it nigh indestructible. Finally, as the magic began to crest, the armor took on a distinct rose hue, with gold and brown highlights. “That ought to do it,” I said with a smile. Mina whistled. “I dig it… the color scheme and design.” She admitted with a grin. “In that case, we still have some time before the Stargate is done. Allow me to introduce you to the world of Fairy Tail.” I nodded, pulling out my laptop from… somewhere. Huh, never been able to do THAT before. “Wow! What’s that?” Twilight wondered. “A laptop,” I replied. “Basically a smaller, more portable version of what’s over there. It also happens to be able to connect to the internet of my old world, making it much easier to watch the show.” “Ooh! Sounds… futuristic!” Twilight was in awe. “Not really,” I shrugged. “You’re actually almost to that point technologically yourselves. Anyway, let's get to the show!” I quickly set up my laptop, pulling up the very first episode of Fairy Tail. ***Roughly 20 minutes later*** “You said you wanted to join the Fairy Tail guild, didn’t you?” Natsu asked Lucy on the laptop screen. “So let’s go!” Lucy grinned as the ending music began to play, and the Rune Knights chasing the trio. “Alright!” And that was the end of the episode. “...My god… this is… I’m just… wow.” Mina commented - from the sounds of her voice, she was impressed. “Yep,” I grinned. “That was pretty much my reaction to the show when I first saw it.” “I have to admit I’m impressed as well - a world filled with mages and unlimited magic! It’s a dream come true.” Twilight was in awe again. I chuckled again at her enthusiasm. “Well, I do believe the Stargate is complete. Before I go, do you want help making your Token, or can you handle it on your own?” “Some help would be appreciated.” Twilight told me and my double nodded. I nodded. “Alright, summon your Keyblade and remove the keychain that’s near the hilt.” Mina nodded and summoned Destiny’s Embrace before removing the keychain. “Now what?” “Hold it in your hand, and focus your magic into it,” I continued. “And while you do that, say the message you want attached to it out loud.” Mina nodded and held it as tight as she could before focusing. Then the following words came out from her mouth: Heed my call, hero or heroine! If you ever need a hand, just summon me using my token and conjure my following message! In a flash of light, I shall come to assist thee! I nodded with a grin as the charm vanished into a portal. “Very nice! Now give it a second, and it should reappear, about… now.” And as I predicted, the charm fell out of another portal right into her hand. What I didn’t predict was another portal appearing near me and dropping another charm into my hand. “Huh, convenient. Anyway, let me summon my Token from where we originally were so you don’t lose it.” I summoned my own Destiny’s Embrace as I pocketed the newly created Token, and used my magic to summon my Token from the grass before handing it to Mina. “Thanks. Just one more thing - actually, two more.” Mina told me. “Shoot.” “One - do you have a laptop with unlimited power and Two - Fairy Tail and other favorite animes if possible to watch whenever I’m bored.” Mina explained her demands. I burst out laughing. “HAHAHAH! W-well, yeah, I do, HAHAH, I wasn’t expecting that!” Twilight giggled a bit. “Me neither. But I do want to watch this ‘anime’ - it sounds interesting.” I quickly get a hold of myself, my grin of amusement never leaving my face. “Well, I do happen to have a secondary laptop that you can have. Just don’t look in the file marked MLP. Don’t want to give any foreknowledge after all.” Twilight raised a brow as did my double. Oops, too much information sharing… “Right, gonna have to delete that quick…” I muttered, pulling out my spare laptop. Seriously, how do I keep doing that? Ahh, something to puzzle out later, need to delete the MLP folder. After doing so, I handed the laptop to my counterpart. “Alright, it's all set.” Mina took it and nodded. “What animes did you install there besides Fairy Tail?” I grinned. “Nothing. I did mention that its connected to my world’s internet, right? Well you can go find whatever you want to watch through that. I also installed some firewalls, just in case.” “Roger… we just need some names though.” Mina told me. “I would recommend My Hero Academia, Dimension W, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Death Parade to get you started. I’d also recommend just browsing around to find something you like.” Mina nodded. “Alright… seems like everything is in order. Melissa’s number is in the Gummi Phone right?” She asked. My eyes widened. “I knew I was forgetting something. Yes, her number is programmed in. I just need to connect your phone to the Stargate to add the recall app.” I quickly strode over to the Gate, plugging it into the computer console to get the app before tossing it to Mina. “Now, I already gave you one warning about the Gate, but I’ll go over everything quick so you don’t so something you’re not supposed to.” I pointed at a small tray on the computer console. “To dial another Displaced’s world, place their Token on this tray, the Gate will do the rest. Do not stand directly in front of the Gate while dialing the Gate, believe me, you do not want to have the top half of your demolecularized. You’ll end up dead if that happens. If the Gate’s portal is kinda cloudy, don’t go through, you’ll end up lost in time somewhere. Finally, as I said before, DO NOT TAMPER with any of the Gate’s functions. There are fail-safes in place, but you could still accidentally destroy the planet if you ignore those failsafes.” Mina and Twilight froze. “Destroy the planet? As in actual destruction!?” Mina asked in a horrified tone. I nodded. “As soon as you can, look up the first episode of Stargate Universe to see what I mean.” Twilight and Mina nodded before Twilight came to a decision. “It’s best I do the whole ‘Stargate’ thing... “ I nodded, before gesturing to the Gate. “In that case, would you mind dialing my world? I’d like to go home now.” Twilight nodded, taking the Token from Mina in her magic and placing it on the tray, beginning the Gate’s dialing sequence. “Oh, Kairi… before you go - I had a check-in of Kairi… and well - two names made me curious: Who on Earth are the cute blonde in a dress and the spiky-haired boy with a Keyblade?” Mina smirked and showed me the pictures on the back-up laptop. I chuckled. “The blonde is Naminé, Kairi’s Nobody, and the spiky-haired boy is Sora. I’ll let you figure out exactly who they are.” The Gate’s wormhole finished forming as I said this. “And that’s my que. It's been fun Mina. Until next time, and May Your Heart Be Your Guiding Key.” I finished with a deep oriental style bow. “Hmmm… cool quote. Same to you, Kairi - may your Heart be your Guiding Key.” Mina wished me. With a smile I turned and stepped back through the Gate. *** (Mina’s POV) After my double had returned back to her proper home, I stretched my arms a little bit before looking at Twilight. “That was… an educating experience.” Twilight nodded. “Agreed… on the plus side, we know a couple of things about you - your name is Mina. Your character is from a game series called Kingdom Hearts… and Dmetri called you a ‘Displaced’.” She told me and I nodded. “And we have some proper defense against the Vanitas wannabe now.” I pointed at the armor while Twi gave me a nod. Just then, our stomachs growled and we realised that thanks to my double popping up we couldn’t get anything to eat. “Well, I don’t know about you but I’m hungry. Back to the library, Mina?” Twilight asked and I nodded. Twilight powered up her horn and teleported us away. We were going to come back here a little later and explore but first some anime watching and that Stargate thing Kairi mentioned. Things were picking up very fast… and I couldn’t wait! *The outro sequence opens with Kairi watching the night sky from her bedroom window while the song ‘Rurou no Zakuro’ plays in the background.* *Migite ni ai no muchi wo, Hidarite niwa hanataba wo…* *Yet another day has passed for the wielder here in Equestria – she spent the day fighting against another group of Heartless but she was tired completely soon afterwards.* *Kodama ni mimi wo tatete, Hayate no gotoku tondeku…* *With a sigh released, Kairi continues to stare at the night sky while wondering what other adventures she would be having in Equestria as this scene comes to an end.* *Kanashiki senjou de, Nani wo omoi nani wo omou…* *A new scene begins with Midnight-Vanitas inside her temporary hideout as she practices her skills on some training dummies that she conjured.* *Yamunaku hitoribocchi, Samui yoru ni kogoeru…* *Using her Keyblade, she slashed and destroyed a couple of them before channeling her inner darkness and growing stronger and stronger.* *Yami wo sasu Hikari, Yodomi ni ukabu ano hitomi…* *Midnight used a couple of spells to destroy the rest of the dummies in addition to using her Keyblade as a weapon as well. Once done, she dismissed the key-shaped item away before plotting her next move.* *Aa hito to yure no sadame wo iku, Rurou no Zakuro!* *With her mind made up, she snapped her fingers and disappeared into the darkness as the entire scene became black.* *Nanimo shiranu furi shite, Damasareta furi wo shite…* *The final scene shows Kairi and her pony friends having fun in the local park – playing and having a picnic. Soon, a local photographer asks for them to get into position as he prepares to take a picture.* *Kuroi eikou nowa nakatta, Nani wo au no wo kirashite…* *The photographer snaps the picture which depicts Kairi, Twilight and the rest of their friends making silly faces and posing for the camera. The song comes to a conclusion.* *Sono kage wo yurashite, Sorera yukusue wo monogataru!* *Everything goes black as the title ‘Embrace your Destiny!’ appears once again while a pair of evil eyes are watching before blinking. ‘Rurou no Zakuro’ ends completely as the episode comes to a close.*