//------------------------------// // CH29: Transitions // Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// Taking a bite of her lunch, a rather specifically constructed sandwich, Twilight entered her room. Pinkie had gone all out in customizing everyone’s room within the Gummy ship. Needless to say, it looked nearly identical to her room in the Lunar Mountains. Lavender colored walls, two fully stocked bookcases, a bed with custom designed sheets, several decorative posters of owls (nature's scholars), and her Keyblade, Magical Element, that sat in the corner. Curiously, the Keyblade did not disappear despite having not being in Twilight’s presence. Sitting down at her desk, Twilight picked up her pen and continued to writing: After Jackie left, Master Luna’s older sister, Master Celestia (See Character Link section: Masters) she was gracious enough to instruct me on the ways of “Aura” (See skill list section: Misc). She described it as a useless skill, but I know better than to pass anything off as useless. She was even kind enough to give me a demonstration. While my output is still relatively low, Master Celestia promised that it will grow over time now that I’m aware of it. While I was training with Aura, Rarity received training from one of Master Celestia’s students in a style of fighting called “Fencing” (See skill list section: Styles) Rarity boasts that such a refined and graceful style suits her perfectly. I’ll have to ask her to show me what she learned sometime so that I can accurately detail it for-- “Twilight?” Twilight sat down her pen and turned towards her doorway. Dash stood, leaning on the frame giving her a questioning look. “Whatcha doing?” she asked, stepping inside. Twilight smiled at her. “I’m chronicling everything that happens to us in my journal.” She gestured down to the old beaten up brown book sitting open on her desk. “See?” Dash came over and took a passing glance at the recent passage. She instantly recognized the the familiar yellowed pages. “Isn’t this your mom’s book?” Twilight nodded nostalgically. “I feel like my mother would’ve wanted it to be used this way. Master Luna even cast a few spells on it to help me protect it.” She counted on her fingers. “Preservation, Physical Resistance, Magical Resistance, and even a spell that makes it so that there’s more pages on the inside then at first glance. I won’t be running out of space anytime soon,” she smiled. “Woah!” Twilight realized that, during her explanation, Dash had made her way over to her Keyblade. Picking it up, Dash examined the keychain, or lack thereof. “Where’s your keychain at?” she asked, pointing to the end of the amber colored ribbon. Twilight held up her closed journal. “Right here. My journal is my keychain. It’s where it’s safest.” Twilight stood up and gently took her keyblade from her friend. Touching the corner of the book to the edge of the ribbon produced a bright flash, and suddenly the book had shrunk down to a fraction of its former size and attacked itself firmly at the end of the ribbon, where it swung freely. “Remember, Master Luna told us that our keychains symbolize something that we hold dear. It just so happens that my journal is removable.” Rainbow furrowed her brow in thought. “I think I was asleep that day,” she chuckled nervously. Twilight raised her eyebrow. Turning her Keyblade upside down, she dangled the keychain in between them. “You mean you haven’t once thought about the meaning of your keychain?” Rainbow smiled shamelessly. “Nope!” Twilight sighed and motioned with her free hand for Dash to summon her weapon. She complied, summoned her Keyblade and holding it out in front of her. Twilight reached out and held up Dash’s keychain. Sitting at the end of a white cord was a large emerald in the shape of a dark green flame with a red lightning shaped ruby in the center. Twilight examined her keychain as she explained. “It’s pretty easy for us to see what the others are. AJ has an apple, Rarity has a sewing needle, Shia has a rabbit, and Pinkie has a blue and red balloon.” She glanced up at Dash before turning back to take a closer look at it. “Although, now that I think about it, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen yours up close yet.” She peered at the jewel with a burning intensity for a few seconds more. Finally, she smiled and turned it to over. “When you see this what’s the first thing that pops into your head?” she asked, figuring that it was the quickest way towards understanding. Dash looked at her questioningly before shrugging and peering at the keychain herself. “Something we hold dear right?” she confirmed. Twilight nodded and her face deadpanned. “I personally thought it’d be my wings if that’s the case. Twilight deadpanned as well. “Seriously, what does this keychain remind you of?” Dash looked back down to the emerald, seriously this time. The more she looked at it the more an image formed in her head. It was definitely a familiar symbol but the ruby was something that threw her off. One definitely reminded her of Spike and that shirt he always wore when they were kids. But the two together reminded her of something else completely. Her eyes widened when images suddenly flashed through her head. Two figures, tears and blood, bodies lying on the ground, a glowing emerald and a shining ruby. However, just as the images began to stabilize, something knocked her out of her stupor. “Guys come on!” Pinkie yelled from the doorway. She was clearly really excited. “It’s time to choose the next world!” Twilight smiled at her friends classic enthusiasm. “Don’t worry we’re coming.” She watched as Pinkie dashed away. Probably to tell the others. “Anyway, Rachelle, did you--” her smile fell when she turned to her Dash holding her head, face contorted in pain. “Oh my gosh! Are you alright?!” Dash waved her off and shook her head. “N-no… it’s cool. Just got a wicked headache there for a second.” Taking a deep breath, the pain subsided and she dismissed her Keyblade. “Anyway, it doesn't matter all that much.” Twilight opened her mouth to protest Dash quickly ran towards her door. “Come on let’s go check that new world out!” Twilight frowned and followed after her reluctantly. While she had her own theories about what her friends keychain symbolized, to be absolutely sure she’d need to get Dash to tell her. It was essential information for the journal after all. ~~~ Spike stepped out of thin air, utilizing a unique method of world travel to cross from Radiant Garden into Castle Oblivion almost instantaneously. He never did quite understand the method completely, but was apparently skilled in its use. Having been taught alongside Chrysalis, he always figured that she understood it better than him. Though it didn’t matter to Spike either way. To him, the only important thing was that it worked. Stepping into the grand hall of the 12th floor, he met with a familiar face. Walking down the hallway opposite of himself Spike recognized his as one of the fellow residents of the castle; Dark Shadow, the artificially created Human-Dragon hybrid. He had black spiky hair with blue eyes and pale cream, scale patterned, skin. He wore a dark blue shirt and jeans. Unlike Spike and Chrysalis, he was allowed to wear a pitch black tattered cloak of his own choosing. It floated just above the ground, swaying in a non existent wind while ethereal white strands flowed through the fabric itself. Spike stopped in his gait and leveled a curious stare at him. “Shadow? What are you doing here?” Dark Shadow responded by glaring at him. “Trying to correct a mistake,” he scoffed, his voice deep and frustrated. He closed his eyes and visibly calmed. Without opening them, he passed by Spike and continued down the hall. “But it seems that this one is one that Mephisto is hell bent on making.” Spike watched as Shadow disappeared in his namesake, dissolving into darkness. Spike rarely ever saw Dark Shadow in the castle, but even so it seemed that he had some sort of grudge against him. It had actually gotten worse since Spike had recently surpassed him in both skill and power. He was a curious sort as well, apparently only really disliking Spike while being courteous and friendly towards Chrysalis and the others. Shadow was also mysterious, as Spike knew next to nothing about him except that he was here long before Spike was. “Don’t worry about him.“ Spike turned around to see Chrysalis appear in a column of dark green and black flame. Unfortunately, this was something that Spike was jealous of since he hadn't learned to perform flame teleportation yet.  “He’s just salty that he’s not the one rounding up your little friends.” Spike raised an eyebrow, but before he could linger on that thought, something caught the corner of his eye. A few strands of pink hair floated over from Chrysalis. Snatching it out of the air, he quickly recognized the source. “This is that girl’s hair... Shia, I think?” he mumbled. Chrysalis also noticed the strands of evidence in Spike’s hand and flinched slightly in response. “So... you’re back early,” she said, innocently trying to change the subject. Spike saw right through her innocence. “Something happened and I had to cut my visit short,” he stated plainly. “Did something happen?” Chrysalis pouted. “You’re too perceptive you know that?” She shrugged. “Yeah, our little friend decided to get a little nosey. I caught her walking around where she wasn’t supposed to.” Spike opened his mouth but Chrysalis, already knowing what he was going to ask, smiled proudly and  continued. “Don’t worry, I took care of it! I took the initiative and put her in her place,” her smile turned into a slight smirk at her own joke, “and then I put her in the unit,” she finished. Spike’s eyes shrank and he yelled across the hall. “Y-You did what!?” Chrysalis held up her arms in defense. “Hey, I thought you warned her.” Chrysalis snapped her fingers and a column of dark green darkness appeared in the corner of the room. “I may have roughed her up a bit though.” Once the darkness receded Spike beheld a large mechanical pod holding none other than the beaten and battered form of Shia. Her hair was a mess and blood dripped down from the several cuts and bruises that were visible on her face. Several dozen wires connected to almost every point on her body. Natures Guide sat in a separate compartment above her, glowing faintly. Spike walked up the  the pod with shock evident across his features. That shock slowly turned into anger. “I can’t believe this! That freaking idiot!” Spike had almost literally begun fuming. Chrysalis burst out in a fit of laughter. “Hey now! Don’t tell me that you care about her.” Spike leveled a furious glare at the girl. “Hell no! But we still need her! We can’t resurrect my friends if she’s dead from that pod. Get her out!” After calming her laughter, Chrysalis sucked in a hiss of breath through her teeth. “Yeaahhhh no. Once she’s in there we can’t take her out.” “Then what--” Chrysalis walked over to him with a serious look on her face. “Then you need to hurry and gather the other girls to join her.” Without waiting for a response she shooed him off. “I’d hurry if i were you. She isn’t getting any healthier in there.” Spike growled and leveled one last baleful glare. “I don’t even know where they are!” Chrysalis took the look without flinching. “Just follow the new vessel and they’ll come to you.” Chrysalis examined him closely. Since he had just come from his time off, he was still wearing his normal clothes; A dark green and black sleeveless hoodie and blue jeans. A bright flame emblem was blazed on his chest, crossed by two black straps. “You should probably get your coat first, though.” Spike rolled his eyes in response and left. ~~~ Once Spike had left, Chrysalis made her way to the back of the hall and up to the 13th floor. It was a secret floor that very few people in the castle were even aware of. Spike was not one of them. Initially pitch black, the second Chrysalis stepped into the room it lit up completely. An enormous orb, easily a hundred times the size of the one Shia found, came into view. Said orb stood upon an equally large pedestal with 10 strangely shaped keyholes spread around its base. Dark and light energies appeared inside. Colors ranging from pitch black, and dark brown, to bright oranges, and blinding yellows, danced around inside the globe for a few seconds before flaring outwards to escape. Bouncing against the walls, they swam rampantly around their limited area. They merged and separated, rose and fell. Every so often they would come together and solidified onto the semi-stable silhouette of a man before separating once again. Chrysalis gazed up at the enormous globe and let out a small chuckle as she gently touched its surface. “Don’t worry, Spike. We’ll get your friends and your memories back. Just as soon as we get something of mine first.” In the corner and out of sight, a small bunny shuddered in fear. Even he could feel the sheer amount of wrongness emanating from the orb. Without alerting Chrysalis, Angel hurriedly hopped his way out of the room. ~~~ “Come on! Come on! come on!” urged Pinkie, nearly vibrating from excitement. AJ finally made her way into the room. “Hold yer horses Pinks, I’m comin’ already!” Last to arrive, AJ made herself comfortable in her seat. Seeing that Pinkie was still staring at her, AJ made a motion for her to go ahead. Blurring into her own chair, and spinning around several times from the momentum, Pinkie slammed her fingers across the dashboard. Several screens appeared in a hologram above them. Various expressions of ohh’s and ahh’s left the group as they gazed upon the effects of their masters enhancements. Each of the separate screens displayed a different world, five in total. One world consisted of a large town with two swords crossed in front of it. every so often a line of ones and zeros would orbit around it. Another consisted of a large pixelated cube of what was apparently dirt and a large pick-ax that stuck out of the top. A third world appeared to be a burnt world that had recently been hit by a massive fire. The fourth seemed to resemble a golden Colosseum with two statues crossing swords above it. Finally, the last world had apparently been hidden from view, as Pinkie was unable to select it. After looking through the worlds Pinkie turned towards her friends. “Ohhh, they all look so cool!” she yelled excitedly. “Where do you guys wanna go?” Rainbow stared longingly at the Colosseum while AJ peered curiously at the pixel dirt world. Twilight, however had begun reading the bios for each of them. Finally, Rarity broke the silence. “Well I don’t know about you four, but I--” “Random it is then!” Spinning around Pinkie pressed a large blue button, causing all of the holograms to disappear. Before anyone could question what she did, the ship instantly began spinning in place, forcing everyone to lean one side. “Pi-i-i-ikie!” warbled AJ. “Wha-at in tar-ar-arnation did you do-o!” “Wheee!” Pinkie cheered, enjoying the roller coaster like g forces of the spin. “Randomly spinning! We’ll blast off in the direction that we end up facing!” she explained. “I’m gonna be sick!” Dash groaned. She turned to Rarity with a green complexion, causing the prim and proper girl to reel back in abject horror. Luckily enough, the spinning stopped, but true to Pinkie’s word, the ship continued to move straight forward in that direction. However, it moved at a slow enough speed that it allowed the others to drag themselves back into their seats. Twilight leveled a glare at the back of pinkie’s head but realized that she should’ve expected something like that. “So, Pinkie, where are we going?” she asked. Pinkie turned to her with an ecstatic smile. “I have no idea! Let’s ask Mau--” Suddenly, the entire cockpit began flashing red, complete with a customarily loud klaxon alarm. Both of which were accompanied by a fierce bout of shaking and rocking. It seemed like the entire ship was being bombarded from all sides, though one look out of the window told them that no such thing was happening. “That’s it! screamed Twilight, holding onto her console for dear life. I don’t care how but if we survive this I’m relieving you of your command!” Pinkie shook her head rapidly. “Wait, Twilight. It’s not me! Pinkie Promise.” Pinkie turned back to the AI on her console. “Maud, what’s happening to us!” A large screen appeared and displayed the outside of the ship, though what appeared on it was different than what they could see on their own. As they grew closer to the next world, a large digital green net attempted to block their passage. The rocking was the result of the ship pushing against it. “It seems that we’re having a bit of trouble entering into the next world,” answered Maud, as stony and deadpan as always. “But don’t worry. This type of firewall is nothing. Though you should prepare for a rocky landing… If you want.” “But where in the worlds are we headed?!” screeched Rarity. “Next Stop: Aincrad”